A Very Nasty Surprise
by Talos the Saiyan
Summary: The Collectors descend upon Horizon only to discover that things are not quite as they should be. For, as the swarms of drones are released to paralyse the locals, the Collectors find themselves facing a very nasty surprise.
1. From Simple Beginnings

He was working late when the raiders came. Though really, concepts like ''late'' didn't really apply to one such as he. Night was just a time when it was darker and he didn't go outside as much, sleep was a distant memory - not even that, if one wanted to be technical. So he spent his nights working. Toying with one theory after another, bringing the future closer one invention at a time. He felt no false modesty about the fact that his genius had propelled the Systems Alliance forward in several fields. Geology was his current focus but in his vast life, he'd focused on many . FTL travel, the Mass Relays, and weaponry both infantry and ship-grade to name but a few. He spent his free time solving problems because he enjoyed the challange. He remembered when the Systems Alliance had congratulated him, sponsored him. They never really understood why he did what he did. For science? For humanity? No to both counts. He did it for himself. In his long life, he had been many things but he was first and foremost a scientist. Some of the problems he solved were small - little things that only seemed to annoy him. Others were larger - he'd received a prize for his invention of a superior cooling engine. It was being used in conjunction with Mass Effect fields all across the galaxy. After that, he'd gone from strength to strength. No one could compete with him on an intellectual level. Such was the benfit of his long life and the memories he held. Sometimes he found himself wondering if this was what an older Asari might feel like. But such musings were not like him so he pushed them aside for later. Even holding back, he was in par with the best and brightest. He landed many contracts, jobs and eventually he was offered an official place in the government.

He refused, of course. That would be much too high-profile for the likes of him. Besides, he'd had experience with governments. Not this one, but its predecessor. It had been a crash course for him on how the world really worked - of course, back then he'd been more than eager to go along with it. But he was different now. He simply didn't trust them. Governments were by nature Sociopathic and having dealt with the problems created by that fact, he wasn't eager to do so all over again. Even the best-intentioned governments were full of corruption, bribary and blackmail. The worst ones were... . The best were only corrupt; rife with bribery and double-dealing. The worst...well he'd had a few close calls back in the day. His probing into the Council had only strengthened this feeling. No government was safe, not truly so. The voices in his head agreed in their own way. They were so soft now, like one by one they were fading. Maybe the stay out here in this colony was good for him after all. At first he'd only went to be away from the spotlight for a time. Then it started to grow on him. It was quiet, peaceful. Everything his early life had not been. Ironic; when he was younger. Much younger, the slow pace of life might have irritated him. Now though, he was older and wiser to borrow an old saying. He'd seen what life had to offer and after enjoying it for really quite a long time, had retired. The tranquillity suited him. Seeing the same few faces for most of the year, going out to other towns and cities when his expertise was needed. The colonists had been delighted to receive a qualified and scientist when they started up; his application had been accepted right away and, one the loners of the group learned of his particular feelings towards governments in general and the System Alliance in particular, they'd happily accepted him.

Now he spent his days tinkering with odds and ends - testing out old theories volunteered to him by the voices in his head. They usually worked. He also went out and did repairs when something important broke in the surroundings cities and carried out maintenance when it was called for. None of the others were as fast or clean as he could be. They laughed and said he'd have made a great mechanic, but there was always something in their eyes.

Still; they were good people. Loyal people. The kind of loyalty that could not be bought and that simply could not flourish in the great city-world that Earth was fast becoming. Here it was different - life could be harsh and those who had come had strong spirits and stronger wills. Here, they were bond of comradeship and trust. Some of his memories spoke of a bond like that; he had always wanted to experience it. Life was slow, but after his exciting life, slow was good. He liked slow. As a plus; the colony was independent, it had no government to speak of and was far out of the System Alliance's jurisdiction. Maybe one day they would grow and expand, he mused, maybe one day this one world would become a second human faction. Brother to the System Alliance, perhaps rival. He did not know. It would be interesting to find out.

That was when one of the monitors set into the far wall beeped a warning. It was a none-standard modification and highly illegal. He knew that it was totally undetectable because he had spent several weeks arranging it to be so. He probably could have gained access to the orbital net if he'd asked but then they would know that he wanted it. Like his new life as he did, love the people that he lived with as he did, he was still paranoid. Blame it on the voices; they'd seen more than enough to make him so.

Moving over to the screen, he pressed several buttons and frowned. Static? Maybe the equipment's died again. But then what was that signal it received right before it went out? Working with his nimble fingers, he was able to reverse and freeze the frame right before the system had went down. It would have been simpler to use an Omni-Tool but he rather liked the hands on approach. The system showed the approach of a ship - it had used a Mass Relay to drop just a little outside the system and was no approaching rapidly. In the split second before total system crash, the ship's readings and dropped to zero. Briefly he entertained the thought that it might be an error but no. The system was accurate. So it cloaked. That wasn't promising. The only ship he knew of that could do so was the SA Normandy, which was destroyed a year back. This was far too big to be a clone made by the System Alliance, and it didn't look human ether.

He felt that slight twinge in his gut that meant things were about to start happening. With a sigh, he powered down the terminal. He'd hoped to avoid this kind of thing. Perhaps the aliens weren't going to try and raid the colony. Maybe they were newcomers to the galactic scene and wanted to say hello. It was possible. He doubted it though.

He was about to step outside when he noticed the ship. It hovered above the colony like some kind of tick. Indeed; it looked organic and insectoid. With a practices eye, he noted the shape, the weapons and the external hardware. It all looked very advanced. Not newcomers then. Bugger. Then he noticed something new; his sharp eyes found the buzzing swarms of insects that seemed to be descending upon the colony. Now that was new. Were they perhaps some strange form of raiding party? Maybe they would dissemble the valuable goods piece by piece and carry them back? But no, they weren't heading towards the storehouses, they were heading towards the homes. That just didn't bode well. He just knew that before the day was done, there would have to be an awful lot of violence.

He watched for several minutes, hoping to gain some insight into the attackers but there was nothing. While it followed basic principles, the technology employed by the raiders was unknown. Given a piece of it, he could probably work out how it ran but he didn't have time to slowly dissect it. The insects probably wouldn't kill the colonists (It would be much more economic simply to bombard the town if they meant to do that.) So that probably meant they would capture them somehow. He didn't see how such a small creature could capture a human even in a swarm so that meant they probably were intended to disable them while the real raiders came down to pick up the cargo. So he had some time to watch and to see just what the raiders intended. Why capture the humans? Slavers? Batarians would pay a high price for good quality human slaves. He frowned; well if that was their goal then they would be in for a very nasty surprise.

Right about then, one of the afore-mentioned humans burst in, wild-eyed and messy haired. He looked like he'd been running.

" Prof!" He gasped, relief clear on his face. " I thought they'd got you too. We gotta get outta here, man. Those things are freezin' everyone in place."

The man nodded, so they were simply there to stun prey. The raiders would doubtless be down shortly.

He turned to face the man - Frank who worked down in the mechanics. Good kid, not too smart but had a feeling for machines. Probably never really make it as a high-level engineer but the colony was low-tech enough for him to live his dream.

Frank had tears streaming down his face, " They just came in, through the windows. At first we thought it was some swarm of local bugs but then everyone started to freeze. Just freeze in place, and I was terrified. And they kept coming. I tried to run but they came after me, I couldn't hide and I was so scared. So scared. Then this big bug thing comes through and tries to shoot me! I nearly didn't make it, the little things hounded me all the way here. We gotta get out of here prof. We gotta run now."

The professor was silent; bug-thing? That sounded almost like a Collector. He'd seen pictures of them when he worked on high-level projects on Earth. But why would Collectors be here? And why abduct colonists? They'd never been violent before. Things didn't match up. He hated it when that happened.

" Professor? Gerald?"

Ah yes, Gerald. That was the name he'd taken back when his own name was too hot. He'd chosen it because it sounded dull. Good old Gerald, always working, never taking a break. Not to imaginative but he never stops and you can count on him After the heat had died down, he'd changed his last name back to what it was originally though. He wasn't sure why, it was dangerous but... perhaps even he was allowed to be sentimental sometimes?

He looked out the window; the swarm had settled now. His residence was quite a bit away from the main housing (He had always liked his privacy) and the reputation for being eccentric this had attained him had been useful on several occasions. Now it had spared them from most of the swarm. Those that had followed Frank were rapidly finding out that, though his residence looked like a fairly standard colony habitat; it was anything but. Useful thing, paranoia. Still; he'd watched long enough. It was time to actually do something.

"Frank, stay here. You'll never outrun the horde and this place is probably the safest on the planet anyway."

"Professor are you mad? Look at those things! We'll never make it out, will we? We're all going to die..."

Gerald smirked, it was such an un-Geraldlike action that Frank was snapped out of his misery for a second.

"Just do what I say and you'll be safe. Stay here."

Without another word, Gerald stepped out. The tiny swarming insects sensed prey and buzzed angrily, biting at him. He felt a hot jolt of pain, but as he had expected, nothing else. This only seemed to confuse the insects farther; they bit and stung but he refused to be frozen like the others.

Frank's horrified face appeared at the window, his voice was just auible.

" Professor are you mad? Professor where are you going? Turn around you fool you'll be killed!"

Gerald's smirk never left his face as he started towards the centre of the colony, where the raiders would be grouping the new slaves.

" I'm not going far Frank," he said, "Just down to meet the new visitors. I think there's a few rules I should tell them about."

And as the stinging swarm obscured him from sight, Frank might have sworn that, for just a moment, Gerald shimmered and his skin became like bony-plate coloured black. But his logical mind quickly dismissed such a transformation as preposterous.

" Professor! Professor Mercer!"

Alex Mercer, code-named Zeus, walked through the swarm that was so helpless against him. And while he walked, he thought. It was a pity but he supposed he couldn't go on hiding forever. He'd quite liked life here but there were many other worlds out there. A new name, a new shape and who'd be any the wiser?

But first, he thought; as blades spurted from his arms. First he was going to give the Collectors a very nasty surprise.


	2. Quiet Before the Storm

**Several Weeks After the Collector Attack. **

The single laboratory located on the Normandy was a bustling with the low hum of activity as Commander Shepard stepped into the sterile room. Machines blinked on and off in the corner, a multitude of lights winking in a strange sequence that he could make nether heads nor tails off.

Tearing his eyes away from the strangely hypnotic machines, Shepard smiled as he saw the first of his new companions to join his team. The Salarian Dr Mordin.

The strange alien was hard at work when he noticed Shepard, bending over one of the tables and fiddling with some piece of machinery.

" Ah, Shepard. Come to talk yes? I'd say to have a seat but I neglected to have any brought in. Keep meaning to; never get around to it."

Shepard suppressed a smirk of amusement. That was just like Mordin. Though he had not known the scientist for too long, he knew that Mordin had initially produced an extensive list of things that he wanted on board the Normandy so that he could perform at his best. It was just like him that he would neglect such simple things as ''Chairs''

"Doctor, I hope I'm not disturbing you...?"

The fast-paced Doctor answered in his usual rapid tone. "No of course not; always have time to chat. Mostly. I'm working on a cure for the scale-itch which has recently invaded the ship. Sexually transmitted disease only originates in verran. Unpleasant implications. No one's bothered to try and create a cure for it. No reason until now." He paused to take a breath. "Easy work."

Shepard nodded and entered the main lab. Standing in the doorway didn't paint the right picture really. He was the Commander and he waited on no one in his ship. Though of course, he never said it aloud or rubbed it in anyone's face as a childish display of dominance. But he wanted everyone to know and he tried to make it clear in the way he acted, the way he talked. It was important; something that a lot of recruits often missed. You had to act like you were in charge always. You were a leader, and if you were a leader there was no time that you could afford not to be in control.

However...

There was just something about Mordin's lab that Shepard did not like; perhaps it was the sterile light, the lack of creature comforts that most places would have here or there. Or maybe, muttered a dark part of him, maybe it reminded him of Cerberus and what they had done to him.

What _had _they done to him? Well of course, they'd brought him back. But...was it really _him? _ Was he really the same Commander Shepard that had fought Saren or was he just some copy that only thought it was?

He had been dead. Dead for years. After a few minutes without oxygen the human brain was commonly considered beyond repair. So how could he go years, suffer decomposition and yet still be the same person?

Was he still commander Shepard? Was he still the same person? 

Did it even matter if he was...? 

"Shepard? You seem pale."

"No Doctor. Its nothing." Shepard waved a hand dismissively. "Just something that's been bugging me lately."

"Want to talk about it? Usually helps."

"Thanks Doc but I don't really feel like sharing today. Its not going to effect the mission."

_I'll make sure that it doesn't. _ He added to himself. If he wasn't Shepard...if this was all some lie by Cerberus then the real Shepard would have wanted him to carry on in his place. That he knew perfectly asnd with utter confidence. So why then did this matter? If he was Shepard, there was no problem. If he was not, then Shepard would have wanted him to carry on in any case...

It was confusing and it threw him into such turmoil every time he tried to think through it. He'd have to sort it out, of course. But later...

The Reapers had to come first. The mission always did for Commander Shepard.

Memories flooded back. He didn't remember much of Project Lazarus. That was so much for the better, if half of what he had managed to wring from Miranda was true. Hpowever, he did remember some things. Brief flashs of psuod-locidity amidst the constant sea of pasin and blackness...

He remembered waking a few times. Not many... always there had been pain and always there had been drugs to bring him back under. Miranda said that it was because they couldn't afford him waking up before the synaptic reconstruction was finished but he often wondered if that really was the case... if they could have awoken him years earlier? 

No, he was getting paranoid and he knew it. Cerberus had brought him back as soon as they could. No point in thinking otherwise. To do so would only fill him with doubts and right now, he was sandwiched between two known enemies. Cerberus and the Reapers... he had a hard time imagining that ether of them could truly want to help him. At least the Reapers were obvious about it. Cerberus on the other hand...

Well, he'd deal with that when he had to.

Shaking his head, he got back to why he'd come here in the first place. Mordin was an insightful member of the crew. A scientist and a former member of the STG, he could get inside people's heads in a way that even Kelly couldn't. So good were the doctor's talents in this regard that she had even been once heard to declare that Mordin had missed his true calling.

" Doctor, what do you think of our newest crew-member?"

The Salarian paused, clearly thinking back to their newest arrival.

Alex Mercer

The man - were he even really a man - that had defeated a Collector raid single handed when even the best of the Colony defences had failed so so much as slow them. The man who Shepard didn't know whether to trust or to shot.

The man who could very well ether make or break his attempts to stop the Reapers.

" Mercer? Interesting case. Very interesting. Unique. Has he said much to you?"

" Not since he agreed to join the crew." Shepard admitted, " he had a run-in with Jack down in the lower levels and I don't know what happened but now she won't go anywhere near him. She's not scared exactly but more wary. I asked her what he'd done or said and she wouldn't specify, but she _did _warn me not to take him lightly. Said he was ''fucked up'' and if Jack is the one saying that..."

"Then it must be serious." Mordin concluded. " Yes, have been wondering about the condition of our newest crew member myself. Hard to read. Even harder to follow. Acts like he is being hunted."

"Former criminal?"

"Possible but...unlikely. The way he acts...too used to fighting. More likely a mercenary of some kind or possibly an ex-soldier."

"Mercenary." Shepard said firmly. " I've seen him fight and he's far too wild and reckless for any soldier that I've ever known. Even Krogan have more discipline than him."

Mordin nodded, "From what I have seen it fits. Very...anxious. Doesn't stay in one place long. Likes to move around."

"You have some idea of his mental condition?"

"No; just from what I've gleamed. How he acts; he acts like the beings around him are made of cardboard. He's concerned with hurting them by accident, you've seen him fight, yes? Its like a hunter. He picks a victim and stalks it until he gets a chance to strike. Then he replaces it and sows discord amongst the others. A predator. One might even say apex predator. Going from available sources, I would say that his mind is very much that of a predator. It is...disturbing."

Shepard found himself nodding. Mercer did act like some kind of hunter stalking prey. . Even around the crew he kept to himself and was snappy if disturbed by anyone other than Legion (Who he seemed to have a strange friendship with) Or Grunt (Who he seemed to find interesting. Grunt for his part respected Mercer for the power and skill he'd shown in battle.) And when he looked at you, you had the disturbing impression that he was weighing you up; testing your strengths and weaknesses against his own.

Far too often, you also had the impression that he judged you far too weak to even be bothered hunting.

" Do you think it will be trouble?"

"Probably not." Mordin conceded, " Mercer is a hunter but he seems genuine about his desire to fight the Reapers. Strange that he believed in them so quickly, however."

"You did."

"I had access to some...contacts. I was not totally unaware of the station before you came to me. It was easier for me to b eleive you since it matched my own information. Mercer, if he is to be believed, didn't know anything about the Reapers or the Collectors until they attacked. Perhaps motivated not be belief...by revenge?"

Yes, that could very easily be his real motivation. Thought Shepard. It had been the hardest thing to track down Mercer when they first got word of the strange being that had single-handedly seen off a Collector raid. It had taken all the resources of Cerberus just to find him. The Illusive Man had then sent in an elite strike-team in the hopes of containing whatever alien did this. That had...not ended well. By the time Shepard was able to fight his way in, the floor was soaked in blood and Mercer knew all he needed to about Cerberus. He'd greeted Shepard by name and said he would join the crew. He'd simply invited himself along and Shepard hadn't refused because... well, a being that could do that to an elite strike-team would be worth its weight in gold. But Mercer did know the truth about the Reapers, or at least claimed to be believe Shepard when he was told, and he'd fought the Collectors and even consumed some of them (Shepard had been somewhat unnerved to learn that Mercer could hyjack the bodies of other beings and steal their biomass to heal his own wounds.)

" Do you have any theories as to what exactly Mercer is?"

That was another sore-point with Cerberus, they prided themselves on their extensive information gathering capability. Then Mercer had turned up out of the blue; a being that looked like a human but that boasted abilities far in excess of anything they'd seen before. Since he first outed himself, they'd been searching for something, anything that might explain him but they'd found little more than rumours, references and odd words with no meaning, things like Blackwatch, Redlight and Code Zeus. As far as they could tell, Mercer had been living amongst humans for a very long time.

The thing that really infuriated them though - and the thing that Shepard had only heard of through Miranda, was that there were apparently files on just what Mercer was. Or on similar beings encountered in the past. They were just locked in such a way that not even Cerberus' influence could reach them. Nor could the System's Alliance.

The files were patchy, half corrupted and ancient as all hell. Possibly some of the oldest stored data created by the human race.

And no one could access it...

At least, no one they knew of.

" A few; none very likely. He is very secretive and very smart. I believe he may have began life as a human but that's only a guess based on his behaviour. He still seems to think of himself as ''human'' or more probably ''human mostly.'' It seems critical to his mental image of himself. How he gained these abilities are totally unknown. I have performed some analysis on him without his knowledge. He appears to have no natural form – his human avatar is simply something he maintains out of habit. This is why he is so quick to change shape in a fight. He appears to be composed of viral matter but it matches no known species. His abilities seem to fluctuate wildly according to what he actually needs them to be and he is able to rearrange his body-mass with ease. All in all, a very dangerous person to anger."

"Do you have any idea what could have created him and why?"

"None. Like I said, he's human in his own head. Or rather, seems to cling to the idea as though he's terrified of losing it and becoming something else. Its the only thing he appears to be scared of. Judging from his abilities, I might hazard a guess that he was created as some kind of weapon. Perhaps by the Reapers themselves? I cannot imagine any other species with advanced enough technology."

" Reapers, right." _What have I let on board my ship?_ But logic intervened, Mercer had fought the Collectors, had fought the Reapers; why would he be working for them? No, it was far more likely that Mercer was an experiment, perhaps striking back against old masters?

He sighed, he'd come here hoping for answers and he would be leaving with more questions. Still, he supposed he was one step closer to understanding just what Mercer was.

He wondered, as he left the room, was that a good thing?

Perhaps - much like his own current situation - the answer to the origins of Alex Mercer was something that he never really wanted to know for sure.

AN: The chapters are somewhat short right now. This is because the majority of the fic is already written and is in snippet format. It was written for another site and for this one, I am merging the snippets as well as extending them. That is why some of these chapters may seem to start and stop a little suddenly - several of them weren't even in chronological order initially. Happily, this should not last for the whole story as after the next two or three snippets, the story becomes far more standard with chapters and a proper storyline.

Next on the agenda, I thought I'd answer the reviews in a more traditional way then normal replies.

**Criticanon****  
><strong>**3/19/12 . chapter 1**

**Hell yes. THIS is what I've been dying to see someone try. No holds barred Alex Mercer overpoweredness. Assume direct control of this harbinger.**

I'll warn you now this will not be a Prototype wankfest. Though Mercer is of course extremely powerful there are forces that can both give him a good fight and even defeat him if he is not careful. As an example of the former, Krogan are extremely though and even Alex wouldn't go up against a really old one without any reason. As an example of the latter...well, some things are best kept for the future so as not to give spoilers.

**RoyalTwinFangs****  
><strong>**3/18/12 . chapter 1**

**I think I have seen this before. The collectors be able to know him even if he turn into one of them, then I have definitely seen this before.**

It is fully possible that you saw the initial series of snippets that eventually would become this story. They were hosted on a site called and you can even go there now if you're not afraid of spoilers. (Though I would advise against it as I am improving the snippets as I go and so, going there and reading what happens next may not be as fun as waiting to see the improved version. Especially with the earlier stuff.) In regards to the plot you actually named, that does not occur within my own snippets (The ones I am basing the story off) However, it does sound like a snippet that was on the thread by another author so it is possible you saw that. If you decide you want to go to and see it toss me a PM and I'll direct. It is in the archive now and the search is currently disabled so finding it without help is a lot of hassle.

**Kane  
>318/12 . chapter 1 **

**Well at the end of the of this day the Collectors are either going to be dead, scared shitless or reconsider attacking human colonies all together although I think that wont happen since it would stagnate the plot in that regard. So, is Cerberus going to get wind of this and if that's the case how will they react once they find out what Alex is? I mean is this an Alex Mercer centric story or are we going to see differing POV's? Also you mentioned that Alex invented some interesting toy's for the SA what does that include? How is his encounter with Shepard and co. going to play out? I mean they would be quite scared of a sentient virus with the capability to eat them for breakfast as if it were nothing.**

**Bye**

**P.S.:Keep going with this story, it has a lot potential and I really look forward to the next installment of this fic.**

Well, as you see we didn't really get to see that part unfortunately. The reason for this is the snippets never covered it and _that _is because...well, I tried several times and could never do the scene justice. It will be added in at a later date but suffice to say the fun things (Like Shepard learning what Alex is, Cerberus' reaction, etc, etc) have not been missed and you will see them future chapters.

This will centre mostly on Alex, however I do not want to focus on any single character so we will be jumping a bit. Mostly on Shepard as he is quite an interesting character in his own right and Shepard and Alex will play off each other well.

**chaos5121****  
><strong>**3/18/12 . chapter 1**

**This looks good. Interesting concept you have there with Alex being a reason why humanity has advanced so much, and in a way its appropriate. He consumed so many people in New York and gained all of their knowledge and experience, and actually using it for something useful. I like that you had him start out in one of the colonies instead of joining Shepard right from the start. It could be a very interesting story if you choose to continue.**

Well as I said, I've got a lot of the stuff already done in Snippet format and so all I really have to do is reformat a little of it and make it look more presentable. As to Alex's knowledge. I probably should not spoil but he is not the only one from his time to do something like that...

**Blackholelord****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**Well this should be a real surprise, can't wait to see what you can do.**

Well then sit back and enjoy the ride because I think you're going to like what's coming in the next few chapters.

**Huitt1989****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**Nice i really enjoyed this and i do hope to see more of the story in the near future.**

Since it doesn't take as long to edit a snippet as it does to write a full chapter, my update schedule should be pretty good for the near future. So plenty of the story will be available and pretty fast.

**Inverness****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**You've certainly caught my interest.**

Hopefully I can hold it for the next few chapters until things start to really kick into high gear.

**Rakuro Kamigama of SkyBreaker****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**Come on! I wanna see Alex Mercer tear em apart!**

Didn't really happen as you can see, but rest assured. Alex WILL get his fair share of ripping things apart.

**Laluzi****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**Awww yeah. It's on here. Finally.**

**...By the way. *evil grin* I'm still waiting for your latest installments. 'Tis the curse of writing - when you feed the hungry masses a chapter, they demand moar eternally.**

**...moar?**

Well, as you can see, I've modified this thing quite substantially from the initial snippet, so it really depends. But for the most part, yes. There will be new chapters on the way back on SB while I update this one too.

**Cursed-Mazrim****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**I seriously hope this will continue as this has insanely humorous potential.**

While humour is not the main focus, I have been told that this fic is pretty funny at times so I hope you'll share that opinion when we get to those parts.

**DarkGidora****  
><strong>**3/17/12 . chapter 1**

**Hmm... I think I know you from somewhere... :P**

**Joking aside, it's nice to see you're posting AVNS here. Is this a portent that we can expect new chapters soon?**

See Laluzi's answer. It ought to cover it.

So, if you want any questions answered or just want to leave a comment, don't hesitate to post it in the form of a review! 

See you all next time.


	3. Things to Come

The holographic screen reflected a blue shade across his face as Commander Shepard typped yet another demand for information. His face scrunched up in annoyance as – yet again - it was denied.

That shouldn't be happening; he had Spectre level access to the whole system. He should be able to find his way into anything. _Anything. _But here, he'd been denied again and again and he wasn't even sure why.

A lesser man might have been yempted to curse at this point; Ok, so Shepard was also tempted to curse here. But he didn't. Instead he just focused the feeling back into his word. Demanding again and again in a dozen different ways that the damn computer tell him what he wanted to know.

**Denied. **

**Access Denied.**

**Insufficient Clearance Level**

"What does that even mean?" Shepard growled to himself. "Spectre access should cover just about anything." Anything except for the real dirty secrets, he thought to himself darkly. Every government had them; and none would have been so foolish as to let them be dug up by a snooping Spectre. But usually, they were buried deep and hard to find.

You couldn't just find them with a search for terms.

He tried again. Searching for what felt like the thousand time.

Redlight.

That word. That single word was the only clue he had as to what Alex Mercer actually was. It was such a small thing; easily overlooked. But it has been enough to spur him into this search that had lasted the best part of the past few days.

It had started simply enough; using his Spectre access, he'd found his way into a coded and encrypted file that made several references to a being that could be similar to Mercer. But, those had been very few and the follow-ups had turned up very little. Frustrated, he'd sent a request for more info and to his surprise, was denied.

That had been the start of it. Shepard was not used to being denied information and the very fact that he was had spurred him into action. The thing that really got him was that - when he traced it back – the source of the information he wanted was the System Alliance. His own damn government holding out on him.

But what could he do about it? He'd tried dozens of times to crack that file and – short of calling Legion up and having him go Geth on the damn thing – he probably wasn't going to get in. And as important as the file seemed, it probably wasn't important enough to risk using Legion in such a manner.

No matter how tempting it might be.

He'd combed the net for it. Everything he had acess to; all his recooursces as a Specvtre went into this. What he'd found had been disheartingly few; garbled files of ages ago. The sentences that could be understood made mention of things like Redlight, Blacklight and Zeus. Nothing else. No explination, no key to decoding them.

And now he was being locked out more and more. As though he was getting closer to the truth but just couldn't make that final leap.

What did he know so far? He recapped for the sixth time. Alex Mercer was somehow associated with those words; he didn't know what they meant or what they referenced but it did seem they were connected in some way. That was a start. There was more. Not even enough to call them full references. More like implications. Subtle and yet quite grim in their potential meaning. For example, a reference to Zeus may lead to an article on viral research. No explanation. No reason why. And the files he found were full of such unpleasant implications….

More worrying, some of the files he'd dug up were recent. And on every one of these he was told that his rank was not sufficient. An absurdidty of course. As a Spectre he ought to be able to access any file he needed. So why was he being locked out of such recent ones?

It was worrying in a very real way; was there some faction of the System Alliance doing this? Were they planning something? If so, did he have a second Cerberus on his hands? All these questions and more filled his mind as he focused on his search. The possibilities did seem grim…

Shepard knew there were other covert organisations supposedly acting as extensions of the System alliance. The whole thing smelled exactly like when Cerberus was preparing to make their break with the System Alliance. But for now, he should focus on the Reapers. No matter what Mercer was, no matter how dangerous this ''Redlight'', the Reapers were always the bigger threat.

Or so he told himself at least. But that niggling thought on the back of his mind would not leave; and so he found himself spending hour after hour on a fruitless search that seemed to have no end.

And then, one day, he had received a message. No, not really a message. More like a summons. Commander Shepard had recieveed his fair share of those in his life and so, knew when he had received a new one. But most weren't so brief…

It was only two sentences.

Redlight.

Omega.

No sign of who it had come from and attempts to trace it had only lead back to that damn encryption again. He had had a bad feeling about it, of course. But what choice did he have?

Miranda had taken it less than well….

"Did you even consider that this is a blatant lure to draw you in?" She'd said when he had told her of his plan. "Whoever it is they're obviously gunning for you."

"Could be." Shepard conceded. " In fact, probably. But they know something and they've set up a meeting. Even if it is a trap, we can still get out with more information than when we got in."

"And if it gets you killed? What then?"

"Its not going to."

He had sounded calm and sure of himself then and he still was. Even as he sat alone at the table, enduring the pounding music of Omega's single and most popular watering hole. His eyes drifted slowly from person to person; never lingering long enough to be seen as suspicious but enough that he had a good idea where everybody was. His heart was beating quickly; Miranda's words repeated in his head.

Of course it was a trap. He knew it was a trap. It was obvious. But it was also the only lead he had and if someone tried to kill him, it at least meant that they probably knew something.

But why was it so important? Once more, he found himself asking. Mercer seemed loyal, and if he turned rogue, Shepard trusted his own team to deal with him. Why did it all matter right now? Why not deal with the Reapers first and then find out all this?

Well, it was because….

Well…

He didn't know. It was the same reason that he had helped Jacob find his father; the same reason that he had helped Miranda and her sister. The same drive that had told him Legion could be trusted. It was the urge that he had known all his life; the drive, the need. He had to understand.

He had to know what was hidden from him and he had to know why. He could logically say it was because things he didn't know had a tendency to come back and hurt him but really he knew it was because he wanted that information. He wanted to know about Mercer and where he came from.

Then he would know if he was a threat or not.

That was how it worked. How it always would and how it always had. The people under him weren't just a crew. They were _his _crew. And he was their commander. And that position had responsibilities. One of those was to understand them, to know them so that he could lead them.

Shepard knew that to be a good leader, he had to do more than shout orders. He had to understand, he had to help them. Help them so that they would help him. And then, everyone would be stronger and ready to stand united.

That was the philosophy he had always lived by. And he wasn't about to change that now.

So, was he trying to find out about Mercer because he wanted to understand him, or because he thought he might be a threat? The question nagged at the back of his mind. Shepard had always thought of himself as fundamentally a good person. He had some flaws, but who didn't? He tried to help people who needed help, he didn't discriminate just because someone was an alien rather than a human and he would die before he saw his mission fail. But Mercer was something he'd never encountered before. On the surface, he looked human. Not even a very healthy one ether – not fat, but not muscular, pale, dark rings around the eyes. After some thought, Shepard had concluded that this was exactly the sort of image that Mercer wanted to foster. How dangerous would he appear if you didn't know his secret? And then, just how quickly could he take advantage of that? Even Mercer's appearance was a weapon.

So he waited on Omega, as the pounding music seemed to drill its way into his head. And he wondered. Just what was he waiting for? The message had come directly from.

When the message had arrived EDI had tried to chase oit but she had had little better luck than Shepard himself. Whoever had sent it was ether very good, had very high level access. Or, more probably, was both.

And so, left with little other choice, he'd come here and was waiting for whoever had arranged the meeting. Perhaps to fight, perhaps to talk.

But he had not been stupid enough to come alone.

Stalking the upper levels in the guise of off-duty security Garrus was ready with a sniper rifle slung over his back. Hopefully, that wasn't too obvious.. Anywhere else, he'd stick out like a sore thump but this place? This was Omega, after all.

Off to the side chatting with a group of his species, Grunt watched patiently. He hadn't brought a weapon but then again, much like Mercer, Grunt _was _a weapon. Finally, mixing with the crowd, Jack. The most powerful biotic ever produced by the human race.

For someone sitting in the middle of a trap, Shepard considered. He was probably pretty well off.

Of the meeting, Mercer knew nothing. Shepard had said something about stopping to gather supplies and as was his style, Mercer had not seemed interested. Thane and Legion were keeping an eye on him just to be safe.

Eventually, enough time had passed that Shepard was starting to doubt that anyone was coming. No trap had been sprung and no one was here to talk. What a waste of time.

Before he could get up, a man entered the bar. At once, Shepard knew this was the contact. If Garrus might possibly stand out with a sniper rifle, this man was a massive tip-off that something was underway. His armour. The chasis looked like it might be based off the N7 Armour that Shepard himself wore; but it was coloured jet black and there were not distinguishing markings at all. No sign of rank, no persoonlized toiuches that might denote a mercenary. Not even any scratches or damage from battles.

He had weapons too; a pistol at his side and a rifle slung across his back. Both of them were top quality. Spectre quality. But the man was no Spectre so how he'd gotten them Shepard didn't know.

He spotted Shepard and moved towards the table, taking a seat at the opposite end. The two men looked at each other for a full minute; eyes locked in a battle of dominance.

The man broke first..

"Commander Shepard. This is an honour."

"I wish I could say the same….?" Shepard trailed off, hoping to get a name or rank.

"Covten." The man said. " Commander Covten."

"Commander of what?"

A faint smile.

"You're not high-ranked enough to know."

"Let's cut the small taqlk. You're the one who sent me the message, right?"

" Yes that was us. I am not at liberty to reveal our identity but word has reached us of your...newest crewmember."

"You mean Mercer."

The man's eyes lit up, " So it is him."

"What do you know about Alex Mercer?" In all the time that he'd spent amongst them, Mercer had never mentioned anyone who he knew or who knew him by anything other than his assumed guise. If this soldier knew the truth then Shepard might be about to discover just what he needed to know about his newest crew member."

"What do I know about Alex Mercer? A lot of things, Shepard. Many of which I cannot tell you even if I wanted to. A lot of people will be annoyed at me for even making contact with you to be honest. But I feel that as a fellow commander, and as a human that commands such respect on the galactic stage you have a right to know. I respect your goals, see. So I'm giving you this one warning. Whether you heed it or not is up to you and I don't suspect we'll see each other again. Your crew will be better off if you just leave Alex Mercer. No good can come with associating with him. At best, you'll only be hurt by his presence and at worst, you'll get caught in a crossfire that you have no right even knowing about. So here's what I know about him/. He's not human; he is an abomination that has no right existing. I know that he kills and kills and kills. Not because he wants to, or even because he has to. Because it is all he knows. Because that's what he was made to do and at the core, he's just an animal following instinct. At the end of the day, if you continue on your present course, you will only be hurt by continued contact with Alex Mercer. "

Shepard frowned; the sheer righteousness of the man's voice. As though he couldn't possibly be wrong, the surety... could he be right? Mercer was cold and distant, and even Shepard had to admit that he was a killer. Just watching him fight could make a man sick. But there are still things that he needed to know... like who this man was and who he worked for.

"Cerberus wouldn't be happy if another organisation interfered wit their goals." Shepard said. Perhaps invoking Cerberus would get a reaction.

It did.

The man frowned, "Cerberus is a young upstart that should never have been allowed the freedom to do what it has done. We do not fear Cerberus, commander. Cerberus should fear us. Because we were there, before Cerberus, or the System Alliance was anything more than a distant dream. It would be advantageous if you would cooperate with us in this, Shepard. But we are not averse to simply taking what we need. Ether leave the abomination to us or suffer with it but ether way, we will not be stopped."

Threatening his crew? Shepard felt a ping of outrage but he forced it down; control was what he needed here. He had to be smart, figure out just who this man was.

The man sighed.

" I can see from your expression that you are not going to cooperate. That is...understandable, I suppose. Even commendable under different circumstances. But you have no idea what you're dealing with, commander. Mercer will not be content merely to fight alongside you. Sooner or later, you will know just what he is. And I prey, for your sake, that it is sooner."

The man stood up and turned to go, but before he left he spoke again.

"Commander, think over what I have said. If you require proof of the reality of Mercer look up the Monster of Manhattan. It should be readily available; plenty of sites have information on it. Its an old ghost-story now but when you read it, you should know just enough to piece together the truth of the matter.

Goodbye Commander, I hope we do not meet again. I hope you come to your senses. But in case you do not, a word of warning.

I will not tell you our name but know this. We hold the line, with every means at our disposal we hold the line. We do not play fair and we do not give notice before we kill you. We are not nice people, Shepard. But we will hold that line if it is the last line we ever hold."

Without another word; the man turned and was gone. Grunt made a move as though to stop him, but held back at a gesture from Shepard. He doubted the man was stupid. He'd have back-up too. And Shepard didn't want a firefight. He'd gotten a few answers, more than the man had meant to give. But he needed confirmation and there was only one man who could do that.

It was time to visit Mercer.

**Inverness  
><strong>**3/20/12 . chapter 2**

**Good work with this chapter. Didn't expect you to jump so far ahead, but it's understandable if you're making it from snippets. I also didn't expect that they'd already know about Mercer's non-humanness, so I'd like to read more about what happened when (and how) they found out if possible.**

**Finally, though they suspect Mercer has something to do with the reapers, don't go down that route. It gets a bit trite when everything to do with advanced technology leads back to the reapers somehow. I'd prefer to attribute the friendly neighborhood eldrich abomination to good ol' human ingenuity and stupidity.**

Well, actually, the snippets will come to be much more like chapters after a while (Actually they should start doing that really soon. Maybe in the next update. Since in the original thread, I shifted from snippet to chapters at about this point.

And as to your comment on the reaper-Mercer connection. Don't take that too seriously; it's a theory that Mordin came up with to explain how Alex may have gotten the way it is. Even Mordin wouldn't assume it to be the truth just because as the facts are now, it might be. They still need more evidence before they even give the theory solid consideration. Shepard's reaction was more a gut-felt ''What have I done'' and he is mostly over it in this chapter.

**Rakuro Kamigama of SkyBreaker  
><strong>**3/20/12 . chapter 2**

**Damn, still no tearing em apart. But that detail where the elite team sent to contain Mercer is good enough for me. I just have to use my, IMAGINATION,**

**So far so great!**

**This crossover fic is well done. No mistakes. Well thought out and written. The development of the story is simply the great. And this is a true crossover story.**

**I hope to see limbs torn apart soon! Or else I have to resort on seeing Alex Mercer on the Three Kingdoms Megacrossover**

Well, you're in luck then. Seeing as how the next few chapters are the ones when things actually stop being snippets and become chapters. Limbs should start flying any time now.

**Just an Avid Reader  
><strong>**3/20/12 . chapter 2**

**I'm enjoying the fic so far looking foward to updates. I had some ponderings on just how Zeus's abilities worked and thought I might share them to see if they could be of use because it is never really explained in the game. Mercer is a virus. Virus's work by hijacking cells and repurposing them into factories to make new viruses. I think that mercer's sentience allows alter the instructions that the hijacked cells are given either changing their function to suite his abilities or just continuing as they did dividing as normal to increase his number of avable cells ( this would explane his in game ability to regenerate health outside of combat). This also means that his consuming a person is not so much eating them as it is a massive scale rapid infection of the victim with their hijacked cells being added to the mass that the mercer virus maintains. It would mean that while in human form mercer can live as a human eating human food as a way to manage his collected cells in the same way as a human. My final thoughts are to his weapons and armor there are several microscopic plants and animals that absorb metals from their environment to create shield and defences for themselves mercers ability to form his weapons and armor could come from this.**

**If these thoughts are at all usefull please use them**

**P.s. his consuming people would give some very conflicting genetic data as it might say that he is several different people or races**

You've clearly put a lot of thought into how Mercer's abilities may work, usually when it comes up in a fic I write I handwave it but if you have no objections, I may use that explanation if it comes up. I do rather like to be able to explain rather than simply handwaviing things away.

**Laluzi  
><strong>**3/20/12 . chapter 2**

**That was a great flyover psychoanalysis of Mercer - I really liked the 'acts like everyone around him is made of cardboard'. It really would be like that, I imagine - the sort of things he can casually shrug off or not even notice can be fatal to everyone else. And one slip on his part could easily kill somebody. It's an interesting look that makes a lot of sense - at least, alongside my headcanon.**

Indeed; to Alex the whole world would seem absurdly easily broken and those who live in it would be like those tiny coloured putty figurines which you sometimes see in preschools.

**ZxZ Fic Hunter  
><strong>**3/22/12 . chapter 2**

**Hmm..kinda sad that we don't see how badly Alex owned the Collector but it is good nonetheless.**

**Well,this story is definetly interesting so do hoping to see more of this.**

Tha's due to the history of the story, I am afraid. You see, when I first wrote it, it was meant to be one snippet and only one snippet. (Which is an earlier version of the frist chapter.) The reception it got was so good that I expanded it into a series of snippets, which eventually grew into chapters in their own right. And so the single snippet eventually became a mukti-chaptered fic. You'll be seeing a lack of action up until the chapter after next, which is because of how the snippets were structured and how I had to leave out a few that were unnesceery but added colour to the fix. If people want them to be added in as omakes of a sort, I'd be happy to oblige but until they say so, I'll be cutting out a few tiny snippets that have no real purpose other than to show how Alex reacts to the crew.

**no one  
><strong>**3/22/12 . chapter 2 **

**Mercer is going have a ball against the reapers**

Reapers may not be the only enemy he has to face in the near future…

**darkfinder  
><strong>**3/23/12 . chapter 2**

**to bad you skipped a head . he goes off to fight them then he part of the crew .**

Again, due to how the snippets were structured. I'm basically taking them as they were written, rewriting a lot of them, fusing a few and posting it as a chapter.

**timmythunder  
><strong>**3/27/12 . chapter 2**

**Very interesting story idea. I'm eager to see where you take this.**

I have a few plans and some ideas. Honestly, I'm also making a fair bit up as I go.

**UltimateGrr  
><strong>**3/28/12 . chapter 2**

**Interesting story idea.**

**Could use a beta reader though, but otherwise looking forward to more**

On the bright side, I have a full forum of people I could pester to beta. On the other hand, I don't really feel like having a certain someone scream ''WRIIITE'' at me for days on end until I eventually do it. So I guess I'll be having to do without for a while XD. (In joke, don't worry if you don't get it.)

**Fayneir  
><strong>**3/31/12 . chapter 2**

**Krogan ARE tough...they aren't THAT tough though. As long as AM-Z has access to nom noms, he can't die. Surviving a nuclear blast is a feat only Reapers can replicate. Unless you are planning on seriously nerfing him, I don't see how any race can give him trouble beyond being an inconvenience.**

**Guy weighs a couple of tons, he can clear vast distances on the ground and vertically VERY quickly, he IS stronger than a Krogan, stronger than a Yahg...and quite possibly the smartest being alive.**

**Its either nerf him, or buff something. Like it or not. AM-Z IS a Canon-Sue. He's designed that way.**

I wouldn't go that far; Alex has advantages over most characters yes but I can think of a few who can challenge him. Not all of them will be native to the ME setting ether…

And as to your point about Alex and Krogan. You are correct. Krogan aren't a threat to Alex. They are, however, more heavily armoured and stronger than just about anything else. When everyone else is a bug, fighting a mouse seems like a pretty fun challenge. *Shrug*

**Teresa Bells  
><strong>**4/4/12 . chapter 2**

**Now this is like potential in the bazillion. I wonder how Alex will figure into this world. I doubt the reapers could really indoctrinate Alex... what with his mind really is. A mind composed of thousands (I'm guessing more) of minds inside it.**

Correct, Alex is immune to Indoctrination simply due to the way that his mind is made up. Reapers indoctrinate brains, but Alex doesn't really have one of those in the traditional sense. Sure he has something he uses to think but I doubt it could really be called a brain in the same way as a natural one is.

**douchiesnacks  
><strong>**4/7/12 . chapter 2**

**good chapter**

Thanks.

**thsunami  
><strong>**4/7/12 . chapter 2**

**It is a interesting idea as i rember playing the game and the real fun was simply the great power at your fingertipsand also the pain of it. I killed serveral innocents by simply running and that sent them off like a missle. To see what is in a sense the ideals and belifes of the reapers thrown back to there faces. A organic that is immortal, just as smart or in time smarter that can not be controlled or sweeped aside. A organic that can blow all there belifes aside.**

**It is in a sense synthic machines that exists for control up against a organic that belives in freedom and can in a sense go toe to toe aginast them. A wonderful idea with such contrasting chracters go head to head**

Indeed. There will be some contrast not only with Alex and the Reapers, but with Alex and the Geth as well. Legion for example will be very interested in Alex and Alex will be the same way with Legion. The two are both very similar and radically different.

**Focusphobia  
><strong>**4/15/12 . chapter 2**

**Yes, Mercer can be defeated. He seems to be vulnerable to electricity, as seen with the fight with the Blackwatch Commander Boss in the game. As such, a fight with Cole McGrath from inFamous might be one sided or interesting.**

There are other things you could try too; Alex may be vulnerable to rapid temperature change. Or extreme temperatures. Not heat (As we've seen him take plenty of that) but what about extreme cold? At the very least, you would slow regeneration and make it harder for him to change shape. At the best, you may even be able to do some damage to him.


	4. Holding the Line

It was late at night (insofar as ''night'' had any meaning on a starship.) when the door to the room that Mercer had been given hissed open. Inside it was dark; Mercer hadn't bothered to turn on any of the lights since he arrived (after all, he could see in the dark) it lent the place an almost inhuman feel as the former human moved about and set to work in what was usually absolute darkness. It was a stark reminder to anyone else that as much as he many have seemed a galactic standard human, Alex Mercer was no such thing.

At the sound; Alex turned from the holographic computer screen - the only source of light in the room - and regarded the visitor. He was faintly surprised, though of course he didn't show it, to find that rather than Legion or Grunt it was the man he had not expected to see for several days.

Shepard.

Alex was still unsure as to his feelings on Shepard. He'd signed up to fight the Reapers for reasons of his own; reasons he still wasn't too clear on. Was it to protect mankind? He was hardly some shining optimist so Alex had a hard time imagining that was the thinking behind his choice. Was it because the Collectors had dared to attack _him _in _his _place and to harm the people that _he _had grown to like?

Perhaps, uncomfortable as it was to admit, that played a significant role in his decision. Even when he was human - especially when he was human - Alex had always struggled with doing things purely for others or even basic empathy. He would have joked - had there been anyone to joke with or had he been a joking person - that becoming a horrible abomination unto man and god had actually improved his social skills.

Alex regarded Shepard with a wary eye; over the days he'd been here, Alex ahd gotten the measure of most of the crew. A lot of them were simple. Grunt who liked to fight and seemed to be following Shepard out of some sense of clan loyality. Jack who followed him for promised rewards; Legion who followed by the order of the Geth Collective.

All these things he had discovered in his time aboard the ship. He'd taken the measure of all the crew; and not only why they fought but how well they did and how they did it. In all cases, he had concluded that they were no threat to him save possibly as a group. The biotics would be the thoughest nut to crack of course. Technically he ought to have been able to use biotics himself since it would require incorporating esso into his form but he'd never been able to get the hang of it and when the stuff started to poision him he'd dropped the idea like a sack full of bricks. Even given his weakness in that regard, he had no doubt that he would be able to fight his way out of the ship if he had to. There was no one who one on one, he would not be able to crush.

Except...

Shepard.

Shepard was a standard human as far as Mercer could tell. He was augmented extensively of course but nowhere near as much as Alex himself. He had nowhere near the power, the strength, the age or the skill that Alex himself possessed and yet he was the one being on this ship who Mercer thought might have a chance of taking him down.

It wasn't because he was smart or strong or skilled. In fact, on paper it looked like a far gone conclusion that Shepard would lose.

And yet...

Alex had seen him walk into traps; fight monsters and battle all kinds of enemies. Several times, he'd gotten himself into a situation where there was really no way he should have gotten out. And yet he'd managed to somehow. Once was a fluke but several times gave Mercer a perturbing feeling that were the two of them to fight, despite all the odds favouring him, Shepard would not go into the dark easily.

"Shepard." He said, without looking around. " Back so soon?"

Shepard said nothing until he was standing directly behind him; Mercer turned slowly and raised one eyebrow at the expression on the commander's face.

"Did you find something on Omega...?"

"You could say that." Shepard replied at length. " I ran into a commander Covton,if you've heard of him." 

Alex shook his head. " I don't believe I have. What kind of information could he have given you that was so important you had to bother me?"

"He gave me information on the past. And on a group called Blackwatch."

Mercer tensed up at the mention of that name; old blood-lust surging to the fore with the strength of remembered wrongs. He turned to face Shepard again. This time devoting his full attention to the human.

"Blackwatch? That's an old name." He said, trying at least to pretend it didn't make him want to go and murder people.

"A very old one." Shepard confirmed. "I had to search every database that my rank gave me access to in order to even find out what it was called. And that's a lot of databases. Even with what I have found, I know little about them. But I did find something else... the Monster of Manhattain...?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Mercer was moving. His hand morphed into a bladed weapon as he came at the man. Shepard was moving too though; his rifle raising in an instant and blowing the offending limb to pieces. Alex growled and continued his charge; smashing Shepard into the far wall. But the human had a pistol in his hand now and was pressing it against his chest.

"Regenerator or not... that'll slow you down." He growled.

"You going to try and kill me?" Mercer answered in a low voice. " Better men have tried."

"I don't know what kind of commanders you've met previously, but I'm not in the habit of executing my crew on rumour and old fragmented records. Now why don't you back off and we'll talk this over."

Mercer withdrew suddenly; to his credit Shepard didn't lose his balance or fall. simply righting himself and then lowering his weapon. Alex turned his back to the human and started pacing.

"So what do you know?"

"That there was a city called Manhattan. There was an outbreak of a virus called Redlight, people died. A lot of people. And there was a monster. A monster called Alex Mercer."

"And Blackwatch?"

"The ones who quarantined the outbreak."

"Ha." Mecer half snarled. " That is one way of putting it. They killed everyone who tried to get off the island. Slaughtered anyone with even a remote chance of infection and eventually, they just nuked the place and called it a day. I'm no hero Shepard but even I can spit on them."

"So you were there?"

"In a manner of speaking. Since you've obviously been in contact with someone who knows their history; how about listening to my side of the tale?"

"That is why I came here." Shepard glanced at his rifle still lying on the floor where Mercer had knocked it away. " Before I got sidetracked."

Mercer laughed softly. The first time he'd made a sound of genuine amusement while he'd been in Shepard's company. " Sorry about that. You know how they say old habits are hard to shake? That habit is _very old._"

Alex turned to look at Shepard and for the first time the Commander saw something other than blood-lust dancing in his eyes.

"I'm old Shepard. I may not look it but I am. The first thing you have to know about me is that if you tell anyone else any of this, I'm gonna kill you. This is a secret I've kept a long time and if it got out, I'd never get any rest. The second thing you have to know about me is that I'm not Alex Mercer... Well, not the original at least. Alex Mercer was a human scientist working on a project called Blacklight..."

And so, the two talked. Alex outlining his history briefly - keeping many things to himself s was his nature. Despite this, Shepard soon knew enough to fit the tale in with what he had learned now that he had a focus point. From what he had gathered; what Alex said seemed true. Alex lingered on Blackwatch; describing what they had done; how they had mowed down civilizations all in the name of protecting the majority.

"But of course, that was only a claim." He went on to say. " By that point I doubt they had any goal other than to kill the infected. And me of course. But they never were very good at that..."

By the end of the tale, Shepard knew a lot more about his new companion. Though that need to understand still tormented him he held back his questions. He knew that Mercer was not a talkative person; that to be told even this much was a privilege few, if any, had had before him. If Mercer had known how little Shepard actually knew he likely wouldn't have been so honest but since he lacked any idea of the sheer sketchiness of the info the commander had to go on, he seemed intent on coming clean.

Eventually; the story ended.

"Are you still not planning on killing me?" Mercer asked, arms spread wide.

_Of course not. _ Was his first and instinctive reactor. But he held that in check; what he had been told both by the man and by Mercer himself flooding his mind. As unpleasant as it was to think, as much a betrayal as it seemed, was the man Covton right? Was Mercer a danger? A threat to his crew? He had hoped Alex's tale would alleviate such concerns but instead, it had only multiplied them. The Alex that was spoken of was a blood-thirsty berserker for most of the tale. Though he had seemed better by the end, that was not saying much. And the Alex that he knew was cold and distant at the best of times. How easy then for it to turn out that this was all some ploy or for the real Mercer to rip aside the curtains of civility and unleash the berserker within? Would it really be better if he just killed him now?

If he could.

Such was by no means guaranteed.

Almost without thought on his part; his hand was creeping towards his pistole. But then, Shepard remembered something. Something distant and small seeming but which never the less convinced the Commander.

"No, I'm not going to kill you."

"Oh? Forgive me, but I don't have a good track record with anyone who holds a military rank. Shouldn't you be terrified of the threat I pose? I know I would."

"When the Collectors attacked your colony. The people were overwhelmed in seconds, right?"

"Yes." Alex said. His brow wrinkled in confusion as to how this effected the current conversation. 

"Except for one. A kid really; a tech called Frank right? Why was that?"

"I let him into my hab. I'm not really sure where you're going with this..."

"You saved him even though it didn't benefit yourself. What's more, during the ensuing battle at the colony, you made sure that none of the stunned people were hit in the crossfire. The records were scrambled but we saw that much."

"And that's why you're not going to try and kill me? Seems a bit sparse."

"Its all I need."

"Shepard, you're a fool." Alex sighed. " But so be it. I wouldn't want to have to kill you so soon after meeting you. But so long as we're being all touchy-feely. What did the man who told you about me look like? Covton was his name, right?"

"Yes." Shepard described the man; his peculiar way of speaking and how he had worn jet-black armour. When he was done, Alex stood up to go.

"Shepard; your opinions on whether to try and kill me or not may be about to change. Judging from what he said that man was Blackwatch. I don't know how they lasted so long or why they haven't come after me before. But I'm not about to let my one lead on them slip away into nothing."

"I thought that might happen. From what you've told me they're not good guys and from what I've seen so far, they remind me of Cerberus in its early days. Can't say I have any reason to stop you. Just try not to let any innocents get caught in the crossfire."

Alex's eyes glinted as he recalled some ancient memory.

"Trust me Shepard, these guys won't know what hit them."

The low buzz of the market district of Omega was a constant drone as the human called Keern peered down from the top floor of one of the taller building. A debilitated shack that had been housing a down on their lack Turian family.

Now it just housed Keern.

His rifle made a slow motion as it traced the crowd; the man behind the scope imagining how it would look if he just let loose and started to fire. How they'd panic and run. Oh...he'd love that. The fear was like the finest drug he'd ever tried. The terror that filled the air exquisite. He could gun as many done as he could and their blood would stain the street.

Sure, the Blue Suns would take offence but screw them. Dirty aliens didn't deserve to stand up straight in the presence of a human. This was his space now and all the damn dirty aliens would just have to learn to live with that.

His thumb pressed down on the trigger lightly. So lightly... how easy it would be to take aim. Just blow some alien frakker's head off. Just to show them who was boss.

But he didn't. Marcus' orders ringing clear in his head. ''Don't kill _anyone _unless they attack you first, got it? This is your last chance.''

Marcus was just as frakking filthy as the aliens. Worse even! At least they didn't pretend to be human.

But Marcus had the boss's ear for now and slimy as he was; his strength would be useful if the particular mutant they were hunting for turned out to be here.

Keern himself didn't buy it. Why would Alex Mercer, THE Alex Mercer. The one thing that put the scare into High Command. The Blackwatch equivalent of the frakking bogeyman show up in some seedy place like Omega? Didn't he have other things to do? Like...infecting planets or suchlike? Eh, he probably didn't even exist. He'd have been old enough to pre-date the System Alliance. What kind of being lived for that long?

Well, besides a filthy frakking alien.

One of the few drones they'd been able to smuggle out of the base wafted by; its warning light still safely green. This drone was nothing like its distant ancestors which Mercer would have faced if the stories were true. This little guy had two layers of shielding, both inferno and cryo rounds and two rotating weapons turrets. These things were frakking predators. He'd once seen a pair of them catch a Runner in a crossfire and rip it to frakking shreds.

The drone beeped softly as it passed him by. All safe. Still no sign of anything here. Bossman was probably jumping at shadows. After all, why else would he pull them all off the base as abruptly as he had? They'd basically grabbed supplies and run.

Well, it wasn't too surprising. Covton wasn't well liked by High Command. He wasn't liked by most of the other commanders ether or the soldiers. Plenty of people wanted to put him in his place. Especially after what happened last time he'd run up against an infection.

Boss was probably flexing his muscle. No real target here; he just wanted to show everyone he wasn't a has been.

It was as this comforting thought drifted through his head; the drone gave off one loud warning warble and then was suddenly silenced.

"What the frak?" Keern managed to mutter. Was Mercer actually here after all? If he killed _the _Alex Mercer, how much glory would it be worth?

It was his lucky frakking day!

At this point; a firm hand clamped over his mouth. Before the horror could truly dawn; _something _ was jabbed into its back and his entire body felt like it had been set aflame.

Seconds later; what remained of Keern fell to the ground as Alex Mercer stood over his body. The new drone had been something of a problem at first but he'd figured out that it didn't raise its shields until it detected a virus. It may have been improved vastly but it still took a few seconds for it to register him as anything but human.

Seconds was all he had needed to crush it.

After that; it had been trivial to sneak up behind the man and consume enough of him to access his memories. Such a task no longer carried the risk that it once had; it no longer left him helpless. But it was still uncomfortable for him as he pushed into the brain of a mind not his own...

"Fifteen men." He muttered outloud. "Three D-Codes. Easy. I'm actually a bit insulted. I thought I'd rate at least platoon strength. Commander name of...Covton. Guess Shepard was right. He's holed up in the slums with his command staff. This should be easier than I thought."

Then, with one final glance down at the corpse before it was fully subsumed into him he muttered.

"Guess it wasn't your lucky frakking day after all."

_Ok. _ He thought to himself; drawing on the consumed man's knowledge of the enemy position. _ They've dug in at the slums where they've made their presence felt. Patrols are frequent but given his small number of men, Covton can't cover everywhere. I have a disguise now so I can infiltrate. Once I do that, I find my way to him and consume him. His memories will give me everything I need. Then, I trash the place on my way out. Kill everything that looks at me wrong and generally make Blackwatcg regret letting me know they're still around._

A small grin formed on his lips.

_Just like old times. _

"You know of course, Mercer will be coming for you."

Covton sighed but didn't let the words effect him. He continued typing away at the holographic screen before his eyes. Displayed there; the feed from every one of the suits that each trooper wore. Sixteen feeds each one showing a different location as the various soldiers went about their duties. Save for the last one. That was static.

Keern...

Well, he'd been a fool anyway which was why Covton had assigned him to such a high risk spot. Logic would dictate that Mercer would search the market sooner or later so Covton had provided a nice morsel who didn't know too much and who wouldn't be missed. Normally, the commander was much more careful with his trooper's lives but Keern had been an exception. A bigoted fool who had somehow managed to stumble his way through basic without killing himself; his presence had actually decreased fighting effectiveness and with no better qualities to offset this, Covton felt he'd done the whole gene-pool a favour.

"Mercer, I mean." Said the voice again. " He'll be coming for you next."

Covton spun around on his chair; eyeing up the one who dared intrude into his control room. He looked like just another grunt, black armour, black helmet. Rifle and pouches of speciality ammo and explosives Just another Blackwatch trooper. Covton of course knew otherwise.

"Drop the disguise Marcus, I know its you."

The soldier shrugged and pulled off his helmet. Short-cut hair and boy-ish eyes met the Commander's steely grey ones. Looking at the two of them, it would be obvious that Covton was the older.

He wasn't.

"You always were the perceptive one." Marcus smiled; his grin seeming to radiate genuine mirth. Something usually in short supply when it came to Blackwatch. Up close; his face was subtly wrong. His eyes a bit too close together; his forehead ridged just slightly with augmentations. The trend only became more obvious when it came to his thickset neck; inhuman muscles bulged so clearly that he could have picked each out individually, if the mood had struck him. Under the armour; his body was even less human. Scarred from surgery and obvious improvement. Marcus housed some of the most advanced technology around to date.

Marcus was a D-Code, you see. And much like the drone that had earlier met its end by Alex's hands. He was very much unlike the ones that had appeared in Manhattan. Stronger than a more traditional D-Code and roughly the size of a normal human, Marcus and his ilk made up a large percentage of the current Blackwatch muscle.

But even among D-Codes, Marcus was unique. Mostly because he never knew when to stop talking. Or perhaps he just never cared to; Covton had long since stopped trying to guess which it was.

"And you always were the one to ignore the protocols." Covton said in a tone of long-suffering. "You can't just walk in. I _am _ your superior officer now in case that little detail failed to catch your notice."

"From a certain point of view."

"From a Blackwatch point of view. That's all that matters."

"Perhaps."

"Enough! I know you wouldn't be here unless you wanted to tell me something so spit it out before I have you replaced with one of the other D-Codes. The ones who _do what I tell them._"

"Ah, Covton, Covton, you wound me deeply you know. I am still human under all this god-like muscle. Well, human-ish at least. Maybe Extra-human? Human-plus?"

"Enough." Covton repeated, his temper starting to fray. "Tell me what you came here for or stop bothering me!"

"All right, all right... no need to ruin my fun.. But you're right; there is something. Keern is down as you've noticed." A gesture towards the static section of the screen. "The uplink to the drone we sent with him was also destroyed. We got some interesting info from it beforehand though. It managed to confirm that it was Blacklight before being crushed. You're right. Mercer is on his way here."

"Right."

In one way, it was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. But in others it was like it had only been replaced with a far heavier one. Mercer was coming here, to kill him. And though he'd planned for that it was still a worrying thought.

"Isn't this part of your plan?" Marcus pointed out. " Contact Shepard, make it so Mercer finds out we're here and wait for him to come to us? As I recall, I objected to that plan on the grounds of it being suicide but no one ever listens to me."

"Of course it was part of my plan." Covton said. " I've thought this all through; we can't fail. I need to bring Mercer in after what happened on Aurila. I need something big to restore Command's faith in me or we're finished. But I can do this; I've though this through. I've planned for every possibility. Mercer is coming to his doom."

Covton took a deep breath; expelling his doubts.

"I've planned this. It _will _work. My plans always work."

"There's a first time for everything. I'm not saying that you're not a good planner but you're treating Mercer like he's just some Runner. He's not; if we act like he is it'll only end in losses we can sorely afford to take. This place is boring enough with the low number of victi-I mean troopers. If they get killed off, who the hell am I going to spend my time pestering?"

"I don't need you to second guess me, Marcus. I'm not treating this like a standard mission. I know Mercer is dangerous. I've seen the recordings. Nevertheless, fear isn't something I can afford. Now get back to your job before I send you out to be the next poor soul he ''ambushes''"

"Fine, fine." Marcus threw his hands up in mock defeat. " I'll leave you to bask in the glory of your godlike cunning and planning abilities."

Once Marcus had left; Covton sighed and for what seemed like the millionth time, wondered how a D-Code like that had ever become such a major part of his operation, never-mind the closest thing he had to a friend.

But that didn't matter now; he focused on the problem.

Alex Mercer. Mercer had taken Keern, and so would know where they were. He'd be coming for them. Coming for him. But he wouldn't be obvious about it. He'd be subtle. Infiltrate then kill. That was what he would do.

But Covton would be ready for him.

Alex would want to slip into the HQ first; to kill Covton to throw the rest of the forces into disorder and to pick them off one by one. It was what he would do, were the situation reversed but despite knowing that what was perhaps the foremost killing machine in the galaxy was out for his blood, Covton wasn't worried.

In fact; as he settled down to wait. He could only smile to himself and mutter one final phrase before returning to his holo-screen.

"Just as planned."

Commander Shepard sat back down in the seat facing the rest of the group. He had assembled the whole team for this meeting and it was still a bit strange to see those who would normally ignore each other - like Jack and Samara - sitting side by side and wearing similar expressions as he told them just why Alex Mercer had left the ship.

It was Garrus who spoke first.

"So Mercer is going after this group - Blackwatch - because of some of the things that they've done in the past?"

"Seems to be the case." Shepard said diplomatically. Personally, he thought that Mercer's reason for hunting Blackwatch had a lot to do with personal revenge but he wasn't about to drag that out in front of the group. If he did, they'd need to know why and that story would doubtless have to include Mercer's origins. Shepard still remembered the softly spoken threat that Mercer had given him when they had last spoken. Though not one influenced by threats, Shepard didn't see any need to tell the others just yet. Not behind Mercer's back at any rate.

"And he has no guns, no weapons, no armour and no idea where they're based?"

"Pretty much."

"And," Garrus said adopting that tone he always took when speaking of Shepard's own achievements. That mix of mild disbelief and not so mild amusement, "He has no idea of their numbers, what weapons they have or what kind of heavy equipment they can bring to the table?"

"Indeed.

"Why Shepard." Garrus commented, " He's starting to remind me of you."

"Fucker's as good as dead." Jack interjected. " I don't know what was going through his head, but even he ain't taking on an army."

"We don't know if they are an army." Shepard replied, "When they talked to me, it seemed that they only wanted Mercer."

"And can you imagine anyone without an army takin' him in?" Jack said.

"She has a point." Said Garrus, "I think he's in deep water this time, Shepard."

"He said he knew what he was doing." Shepard said, " And I trust him. I think he can handle himself."

"But you are still uncomfortable letting a willing ally fend for themselves." Said Samara from her corner, "It is a sentiment I understand and support. Whether Alex Mercer can survive by himself or not is irrelevant. We must do what we can to help him."

"Why?" Jack spat. "The guy's a psychopath."

"Says the girl with the interesting collection of tattoos." Garrus noted.

Jack shot him a glare. " Exactly. So I know what I'm talking about. We're better off without him."

"If there is one thing I have learned from my life.." Thane said from the shadows where he sat, "It is that trust is not something easily given. Mercer told us this, and he trusts us to do what is right. But whatever it is, time is of the essence."

"I say we leave the whole damn station and never go back." Jack said, "Mercer's a nut."

"Unpredictable? Yes." Mordin put in, "But psychologically unstable? No. Interesting case, threatening posture, isolationist tendencies, and yet he has told us where he was going instead of simply leaving. Fascinating. We should go after him. Not only because his life may be in danger, but am curious as to this ''Blackwatch'' may have run across references to it during time in the STG. Will have to check to be sure."

"We go after him." Grunt growled. He was the only one in the room standing. "If he has the nerve to go up against who knows how many armed soldier single-handed, well, he practically deserves to survive. I don't think he'll be in any danger, but it'd be rude to miss the fight."

Shepard sat in silence as the discussion raged on. After a while, he turned to one who had not yet contributed.

"What do you think, Tali?"

Tali stirred. Shepard knew that she bore no love of Merer. Actually, she was terrified of him.

"I don't like Mercer, Shepard." She began, "I don't like him at all but we shouldn't just leave when he may need us. That's what Saren would have done."

"This is ridicules." Miranda said, "I can't believe we're actually discussing this. Shepard, Mercer is a liability. Even when he was still onboard, he was borderline. His respect for authority was virtually non-existent and what proof did we have that he actually wanted to help? But now he's gone off on some private quest. He said he doesn't want our help, so let's just leave."

"Come on Miranda." Jacob said, " We can't do that. Tali's right. That's not the way we deal with our crew. We don't leave them hanging."

"He isn't a member of the crew." Miranda snapped, " If he'd socialised, gotten to know us maybe. But he didn't. He spent all day in his room doing god knows what. He only came out on a few occasions and the last time, need I remind you, he ended up in a fist-fight with Grunt."

"I think this may be a first." Garrus said, "Miranda and Jack agreeing? Scary thought."

"Enough." Said Shepard. "I've listened to each of you and you all have good points. But Tali's right, we aren't Saren. And we don't leave our allies out to dry. Get ready to move."

The slums were a real sight to behold; they looked ravaged and lifeless. Of course, this being Omega they always looked like that but now they did so for an actual reason other than poverty and gang-warfare. When Blackwatch had moved in; they clearly hadn't wanted anyone around to report back. They'd made a clean sweep of their surroundings, killing anyone they could find. Alex wished he could say he was surprised but honestly he wasn't. It was Blackwatch; ruthless was what they did.

It seemed someone had put up one hell of a fight though; The Blue Suns by the look of it. They'd thrown up barricades and in some places whole streets had been chewed up by the fighting. Alex was somewhat impressed and if the Blackwatch forces had been humans alone, the Blue Suns may even have held out.

But from what he could gather; once the Blue Suns had proven annoying enough the D-Codes had been dispatched and everything after that was a slaughter.

So now Alex found himself perching on a tall building overlooking the squat habs that Blackwatch had made their base in. According to his stolen memories; the commander had had the interconnecting walls torn down to turn the place into one big building. Alex was still in his Keern-form but that wouldn't last him much longer. Surely they'd know he was missing by now.

And thus, his interest in the lone figure currently standing just a little away from the doorway. He was clothed in what Alex supposed was Blackwatch armour; his helmet was under his arm and he seemed to be on some kind of break.

_So this is what Blackwatch have come to? I'm not impressed. _

Alex had been watching him for the past few moments; his innate paranoia warned him that this was just too easy but so far he couldn't say it looked like being a trap. He'd considered fighting his way in but that might be expensive in terms of biomass. There were three D-Codes nearby after-all and according to the stolen memories of Keern, they were significantly improved over the ones he was used to. If there was opnly one, he'd have been tempted but fighting against three at once without knowing how tough they were was just asking for trouble.

Not that he doubted he could put them down. Rather, he feared that in the time it took him to do so, Covton would get away.

Thus, the need for a new disguise.

Unfortunately, even if it wasn't a trap it wouldn't be quite as easy as all that. The base had been rigged with viral detectors just like in Manhattan. Save these ones were built with modern tech so he didn't know their range or sensitivity. Fun. The man he was thinking of nabbing _seemed _to be just outside their range, given some rough guesswork, but the margin for error was very slight and if he messed it up, the whole base would be onto him. There did seem to be a safe path through them though... but it was pretty fine. If he made so much as one mistake then he was finished...

Still; he wouldn't have much luck just standing around here.

With a single fluid motion; he descended. Altering his form on the fly so that he landed with a soft thump instead of a loud bang. The only one who heard was his target who went for his gun but Alex speared a hand into his chest and consumed him before he could shout a warning.

Tense seconds passed; but no alarm was triggered.

He'd done it.

Swiftly, he assumed the form of the man he had just killed.

Just in time too; as no sooner had his new-found disguise settled than a second trooper emerged from the building.

"Oi, Montgomery. Break's over in case ya hadn't noticed. The CO wants everyone inside to help with something."

"Ok." Said Alex, starting towards what he hoped was the safe path to avoid detection. " Tell him I'm on my way."

Covton sat in front of the command screen which displayed the feeds of all the different soldiers that he had brought. The same screen which now showed two separate pictures of static. He was hunched over it now; a slight guilt had been growing in him since he saw Montgomery die. He hadn't planned that; Keern was one thing. The man was a bigot and a fool. And when a Blackwatch Commander called you a bigot, you knew you had problems.

But Montgomery hadn't been anything other than faithful. His death was regrettable. But there was nothing he could do for the man now save to take down Mercer as quickly as he could.

"You know you look like a super villain when you sit hunched over the console like that..."

"Shut up, Marcus."

"Just thought I'd mention it."

"Shut up, Marcus."

" I mean, not one of the really big name supervillians like Doctor Doom or anything. You're not nearly handsome enough to be Doctor Doom."

"Marcus so help me.. if you don't shut up I swear I'll-"

But he was saved from having to threaten the D-Code when the door to the room hissed open and in walked a single soldier. All the tension that had been building in his body almost seemed to vanish. It was time to put his plan to the test. No way to back down now. Logically, knowing there was no retreat should have made him feel worse. But it didn't.

His course was set now. All he need do was to bring the ship home.

"That's far enough, Mercer."

The helmeted solider paused for a second then looked from one of them to the other. Then, with a shrug; his outer form dissolved before their eyes. Leaving them face to face with Alex Mercer. And he was still wearing that damn jacket he always wore in the recordings. In fact, he looked exactly like he had then.

"How'd you know it was me?" He asked conversationally. "I thought I was doing pretty well if I do say so myself."

"Suit links." Covton gestured to the holo-screen. " Each trooper gets one. When they started to go blank I knew you were on your way. But I didn't expect you so soon."

Alex shrugged.

"Blackwatch standards must have fallen then."

"The point was for it to be easy."

"But not _that _ easy." Mercer countered. "Security here was a joke. I raided places back in Manhattan that were harder to get into than this. You're a commander in Blackwatch, huh? Man, standards _really_ have dropped."

"Enough!" Covton growled. " I lured you here so that I could bring you down, Alex Mercer, Code Zeus. I know enough about you to know that you're not walking out of this one alive."

"You know enough about me? You're a fool. If you think you can just study what I've done in the past, you've got another thing coming!"

And with that, Alex moved. Like lightning; so quickly even Covton's military trained reactions were left in the dark. By the time he was even reaching for his gun, Mercer's hand had turned into a blade. By the time that he was un-holstering it; Mercer was making a run for his face. By the time his weapon was nearly in position; Mercer was moving to impale him through the chest. Covton knew then that he had made a miscalculation; that he had underestemated Mercer and that they were all going to die. He knew that however fast he was; he was still just human. He'd never bring his weapon up in time.

Fortunately, Marcus' reaction were not bound by such human frailty. In a single fluid motion; he interposed himself between the commander and the monster with a grin on his face and lashed out with a vicious left-hook. Mercer took the brunt of the blow and was actually thrown back by the raw power of the D-Code.

Marcus, still smiling, strode forwards confidently as the Blacklight construct picked himself up off the ground.

"I guess I should introduce myself too, huh? Names Marcus. I'd gloat, but I'm not really into the whole super-villain ''and now all my plans are come to fruition'' thing."

"So you're a D-Code then?" Mercer said, cocking his head to the side as though curious. "Impressive strength. But you're in my way. And things that're in my way don't last long. Move."

"Make me."

Mercer charged with a roar of blood-lust. Marcus met it with a charge of his own. His form seemed to blur as he barrelled into Mercer's exposed chest. They tumbled back. Marcus smashed his face into Mercer's, one hand on each arm preventing the blades from closing. Mercer shifted his body, raw biomass churning. A spike impaled itself through Marcus' chest, but the D-Code showed no signs of discomfort. He slammed a fist home, Alex rolled with it. Mercer managed to get enough traction to kick the D-Code with all of his strength. Despite his enhancements, Marcus smashed into the far wall.

Alex pounced on him with all the speed of a jungle cat; his claw-arm slashing down across the D-Code's chest in a move that would have disembowelled a normal human. It drew blood, but Marcus had taken far worse and retaliated by grabbing the offending arm and breaking it in his hands. Mercer's balance was offset while he regenerated so the D-Code pressed his advantage. Planting a barrage of powerful blows into Mercer'c chest and head. Denting the chitinous armour with which the construct was defending himself. Though Mercer regenerated after each blow, it kept him too busy to counter-attack.

Mercer snarled and spun; planting a full power kick in the D-Code's wounded chest. Marcus groaned and the pain forced him back. Now it was Mercer's turn to gain ground. His fists shifting into dozens of different weapons as he lashed out against Marcus, intent on bringing the fight to a finish.

"You're stronger than I expected." Marcus gasped between blows.

"So are you!" Mercer growled in a tone which made it clear he was unhappy with this state of affairs.

"I'm a current Generation D-Code, baby. Top of the line." So saying, Marcus smashed a blow into Mercer's face. Blinding him while he regenerated. Instead of pressing the attack, he took the chance to catch his breath. " I've not been pressed like that in a while. Guess its my lucky day." 

"Funny..." Mercer growled. "That's exactly what one of your soldiers thought earlier!"

The two met again. Trading blows and counter blows so fast that the watching Covton could only stand in awe of the two. He'd known Marcus was tough of course; he'd seen him fight before. But this tough...?

This time when they met, Alex didn't bother with blades. Giving up cutting power for raw muscle. If the C-Code wanted a fight, he'd get it. The two traded blows for several minutes. Covton watched . Mutely fascinated despite himself. He seldom saw D-Codes pushed to their limit, but this time Marcus was pulling out all the stops.

And he was still losing. Blow after blow hammered through his defence, he spun and dodged so fast, but Mercer was faster still. Blades cut across his body, his armour gave some protection but it was limited and soon he was leaking blood from numerous small cuts. Marcus was one of the older D-Codes, and had personally brought down multiple Runners and yet with all his skill, he was just about able to keep Mercer from landing a fatal blow.

Mercer led with a fist to the face. Strong enough to dent steel, Marcus staggered away. Mercer spun, delivered a blade to the back, sharp enough to sever the spinal column of an un-augmented human. Like his predecessors, Marcus had armour surgically inserted into his body, so he wasn't quite as hampered but it did still cause a great deal of pain. Blinded by the pain, he swung, Mercer dodged to the side and hammered an elbow into the back of his head. Marcus roared and spun. By luck, he managed to land a kick in Mercer's gut. Armour broke, Marcus followed up with a fist to the face, trying desperately to keep the initiative. Alex dodged to the side, three tendrils whipped through the air and Marcus found himself thrown aside. Alex let his left hand shift to a wickedly sharp claw and stabbed, but Marcus rolled aside. An a mirror-image of Mercer's own earlier move, he kicked and Alex found one of his legs snapping. The damage was fixed in seconds, but it allowed Marcus time to recover. The super soldier pressed in, he knew his only chance was not to let Mercer think properly. If he pressed him, Mercer might make a mistake, if he didn't, Mercer could casually end the fight at any time. 

The barrage of attacks were swift and accurate, Alex found his armour deforming, his arm almost totally snapped. Now irritated, Alex pulsed new biomass to the limb in question, forcing it back into place. Enough. Mercer thought to himself. The fight had been a useful way to test the capabilities of the new generation of D-Codes. If this one was anything to go by, they were much improved... but still no match for him.

The next time they clashed; he side-stepped. Before i Marcus could withdraw, he smashed the D-Code's leading arm with a single blow. Marcus recoiled in pain, but Alex pressed on, his fists bulged as he forced biomass into them._ Hammerfist_. He thought to himself as he slammed it into the other's head. The skull cracked and blood splattered across Mercer. But the super soldier went down hard. Alex waited a few seconds to see if he was going to be getting up from that.

No, he was down.

He turned to face Covton. To his slight surprise, the commander hadn't made a run for it, but was pointing a pistol at his face.

"That's it? I expect that from the Blue Suns, but from you too? Standards really have fallen."

The pistol barked. The shot impacted with a wave of pain, Mercer felt shock echo through his mind. What? But the pain quickly faded, and he saw that no damage had been done. The point of impact was brittle and ringed with frost.

"Cryo rounds." Covton said. " I figure that they'll have a much better chance of putting you down for awhile than the normal stuff."

Mercer made to move forwards, but a hand closed around his leg. He glanced down, Marcus grinned up at him through a bloody mouth. His skull was deformed, but somehow he was still awake.

"Take more than that to put me down." He spat, Before Mercer could react, he summoned all his strength. With two hands, he hurled the viral construct into the far wall. Mercer landed hard enough to dent the metal. But was back on his feet almost instantly. Three more cryo rounds lanced into his body. Each an explosion of pain, and after each one, he was colder. He realised that Covton might have a point, if he was hit with enough cryo rounds for a long enough period of time, he might be forced into some kind of stasis. At the very least, he'd find shape-shifting practically impossible...

But it would take far more than one gun to even come near that, and it would take much longer than Covton had left to live.

The door at the far side of the room hissed open again, Mercer took a look and cursed to himself.

"Shit."

Six Blackwatch soldiers were filling in. Weapons drawn. Covton grinned, and Mercer realised that he had been buying time.

"That is Mercer." Covton announced, "Take him down."

Mercer was fast. By the time Covton was speaking, he was already on his feet. Blades burst from his arms as he rushed the commander. By the time the first few shots (cryo rounds, he growled to himself) smashed into the ground beside him, he was already nearly half way there. When the first one hit his leg, it froze. He tripped, almost in slow motion, he saw Covton. So close. More shots hit him, waves of pain. His body seemed to slow, ice crystals formed inside him as the barrage continued. They cut into his body even as he tried to shift his mass. He realised that he wasn't going to make it, but by then it was too late. Another shot struck him in the chest, he staggered back, falling to the ground. He tried to shift his shape, but the cryo rounds had done their work well.

Covton raised his pistol joined in.

Mercer managed to stagger to his feet, but he was so slow. The world began to edge out around him, blackness invading his sight.

_No! It can't end like this. There has to be some way out of here _ But Alex had slowed to a plod and every second it became harder and harder to move.

He couldn't shift his shape anymore he couldn't regenerate as his left leg shattered into icy-shards. He smashed into the floor with a surge of pain and heard Covton growl.

"Keep firing. Keep firing until there's nothing but shards. Then we throw them in the incinerator. I don't want this abomination getting back up." 

**To be continued...?**

Review replies! Feel free to skip if you don't feel like reading through them.

**He Who See's****4/28/12 . chapter 2**

**"I'll warn you now this will not be a Prototype wankfest. Though Mercer is of course extremely powerful there are forces that can both give him a good fight and even defeat him if he is not careful. As an example of the former, Krogan are extremely though and even Alex wouldn't go up against a really old one without any reason. As an example of the latter...well, some things are best kept for the future so as not to give spoilers."**

**Yes. Because truly a being who can run at a hundred miles an hour, jump hundreds of feet into the air, lift the burning remains of tanks, can heal quickly from damage, can withstand multiple HEAT rounds and missile launcher shots and has foughten things that have pummeled him into the ground on multiple occassions and can knock 1-2 ton cars aside with relative ease would find a reptilian alien that weighs about a ton in armor and is nowhere near AS strong, durable, fast, or scary as him difficult to fight.**

**I wish I could bonk you in the head with my patented "clue-stick" right now.**

And I wish you wouldn't draw conclusions that I nether meant nor said. I never said that Alex would have a tough time with them; I said he wouldn't take one on unless he had to. Krogan are a pain in the ass to kill; redundant organs mean he can't insta-gib them like he can humans and strong enough to be really annoying. If I said I expected some Krogan elder to be even with him I could see what you're complaining about but as is, I don't really see what the problem is.

**Zloki****5/23/12 . chapter 3**

**You've really handled this crossover well. I like how Commander Shepard has reacted to having Mercer as a crew member. Its very convincing. I look forward to reading more!**

Yes, Shepard is still in shock at the moment but he'll be getting over that soon.

**Dur'id the Druid****5/18/12 . chapter 3**

**That's not it, right? It's a wonderful set-up, please continue!**

Of course its not it! I have a lot planned for this story as we'll soon see.

**Stormkeeper818****5/18/12 . chapter 3**

**I have to admit, a very interesting idea for a crossover, though I do have to admit I would have thought that while suspicious of Mercer at first, Sheperd would have built some camaradarie with Alex just over their identity crisis, it is kind of a big issue for one person, even Mercer, at least that's how it comes across. I'm also interested in seeing how you incorporate Prototype 2 into this, I haven't played it yet but I'm guessing it would require a different ending to what your story implies, and invulnerable? Not so much, the way i see and one of your reviewers eloquently put it, a virus takes over and repurposes living cells, Reapers are primarily machines with some organic components surely they would be able to defeat Alex on his own, the Banshees for example, from what I understand they just shred the cognitive process and kill someone, and as you've stated Alex does have something to think with even if it isn't a normal brain. Looking forward to reading more**

This story was started before ME 3 or Prototype 2, don't expect them to really factor into this. I have no love of Prototype 2 so unless it becomes something important to the plot, Heller likely won't appear at all. ME 3 really depends on if I get the game or not but given what I've heard about it, I doubt that will happen.

**A review 5/5/12 . chapter 3 **

**great story keep up the great work**

**p.s**

**update soon**

I do believe I just did XD.

**edboy4926****4/30/12 . chapter 3**

**Good story**

Thanks.

**mrghostly****4/27/12 . chapter 3**

**About the thing with the cold.**

**Isn't there a freeze gun in the ME universe? And I know there are omni-tool abilities that freeze people. That could add some much needed challenge to the story, that way there is actually something that can hurt him, or at least put him out of the action for a while. Because, story-wise, invincible characters are no fun.**

You guessed right; freeze weapons are going to be Mercer's arch-enemy in this story. The only thing that can easily be brought top bear in numbers and have a chance of actually harming him.

**no one 4/26/12 . chapter 3 **

**Question, where is Heller in all of this?**

As I said, I have no liking of Prototype 2 so he likely won't be around.

**Sairresh****4/26/12 . chapter 3**

**very glad i came back and looked for this forgot to put it on my alerts last time lol do wonder whats comeing next can't wait**

At this stage, the snippets have ended and we're onto the chapters proper. This one alone (Disregarding the review replies) clocks in at about 8000 words.

**Kohey****4/24/12 . chapter 3**

**looking forward for the next chapters :3, juste i was wandering did alex evolve more? in the game he with the virus evolve to overcome whatever come in is way, he live for century(forgot the year in ME '') he is bound to evolve even a little if he stay hidden. something like the biotic is bound to stir his curiosity as a scientist and maybe the need to evolve to stay on the top of the food chain? unless he has something to do with them from the begining (then again it's a long time that i have play ME and only the first '''). There is one last thing that bug me, something like "Luke, I'm your father." kind of thing.**

Mercer hasn't evolved much due to being stuck in a mostly peaceful environment and there being no need to. He did try his hand at bioitics once, as he reveals in this chapter. But he couldn't get them to work and he dumped it when it started doing _weird _things to his body.

**darkfinder****4/21/12 . chapter 3**

**surprised cerberius not able to find out more as well . glad there is more .**

Won't say much in order to avoid a spoiler, but Cerberus and Blackwatch aren't exactly new to each other...

**Kane 4/19/12 . chapter 3 **

**Nice advancement of the plot so far, using the Black Watch operative(for what other organization could that guy be a member of?) as plot device was quite interesting. I wonder are we going to see Alex consume a Reaper(well the human versions since the ship version seem to be a bit to much even for our favorite sentient virus to gulp down in one bite) and concerning Alex mind, well what would happen if an Asari tried to meld with him? I mean wouldn't they get information overload from that? Come on we are talking about a being composing of multiple thousand if not even hundred of thousand individuals mixed in with mentioned beings natural what actually happened to Dana and your hints indicate that we are going to see a lot of being similar to Alex in the near future of this ff, no?**

**Are you using a spell checker if not well that could help you with your tipping mistakes.**

An interesting theory; I personally hold that an Asari would be unable to meld with him because that requires a central nervous system. While Alex does have something of that sort; its likely far beyond anything that an Asari would be used to.

In addition, trying to meld with a virus that has, at its basest level, the undying urge to consume flesh, even if said virus is in a good mood, is not a recipe for long life.

**Killuminator****4/19/12 . chapter 3**

**Very interesting. I would like to see more of this with more details and less of snippets. Also as for Alex's weakness it is actually water. Alex doesnt get hurt from water but his body rejects it. Remember when you try to jump in water he would just bolt out of it.**

We're into the chapters proper now; this was the first one. We'll be moving along at a far more traditional pace from this point in.

As to the water thing; I always assumed that it caused him pain or he disliked it rabidly for some reason but that it wasn't actually harmful to him. You can dunk him into it as much as you want in the game, after all. And with very little ill effect.

**jaass20****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**I was thinking when Mercer faces extreme temperatures he behaves similar to a Tardigrade or waterbear.**

The way that I am playing it is thus. Ice is no inherently harmful to him so much as it slows his biology down to a crawl, prevents regeneration and makes it harder for him to shapehift. It won't kill him or do any permanent harm alone, but cold enough and it'll make him basically helpless until he can warm up again.

**DarkGidora****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**Awesome, as usual. One thing I've noticed, and I'm not sure if it's a problem with the upload to FFnet or something, but there's a few spelling mistakes; like "taqlk" and referring to Shep as a "Specvtre".**

Probably a combination of my rapid typing style and me generally not proof-reading these chapters prior to posting, which I know I really should.

**God of fate****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**like it**

Thanks.

**ZxZ Fic Hunter****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**Good chap!**

**Uh oh,is that the commander of Blackwatch? Though Commander Covten reaction is pretty badass itself.I wonder what happen when Alex found out Shepard been snoping around to find out about his well,Few minor mistake but it's good nonetheless**

**That's it then, do hoping to see more of this.**

A commander of Blackwatch. Blackwatch now is much different from what it was in Mercer's time. There's a snippet going over the differences on Spacebattlesdotcom if you're interested I can post it here upon request.

**ShadowFires51****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**please don't answer reviews in the chapters, send PMs, because almost half of the chapter is just you talking to reviewers.**

**Other than that nice chapter.**

I am aware of that and I knew it would likely be such when I started. But I thought that it was worth it because replying back on the fic itself not only gives people a reason to check out the latest chapter, but also encourages a more community-minded feel for the fic and I think it helps everyone feel like I'm listening. Given that I just did 8000 words of story, surely you won't begrudge me 1800 words of review replies?

**Soul Painted Black****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**interesting crossover seeing as the reapers seem to be partly organic in nature (haven't played me3 at all own it but work to much)**

Yes, the Reapers are organic in nature at least to some extent. It'll make for an interesting confrontation in the future, that's for sure.

**Basia Orci****4/17/12 . chapter 3**

**Awesome story so far!**

Thanks! Always good to know your story is appreciated!


	5. When Things Turn Bad

Somehow, Mercer managed to push himself to his feet even as more cryo rounds impacted against him and a crystalline sheen of frost began to creep over his body. He was leaning against the wall and trying to regain his footing but it was too little and too late. Covton poured fire into him and knew with a smug satisfaction that this would be the end of Zeus. But Mercer somehow still found the strength to move on, staggering forwards as though still intent on bloody murder. His hands tried to shift, only to shatter into shards of ice. They healed slowly. His staggering steps became slower, his movement began to become sluggish.

Mercer started to draw back towards the wall. Covton frowned. That didn't make sense. According to everything he knew about Zeus, the abomination ought to pressing the attack now more than ever. With his escape route cut off and his life forfit, the sheer berserker rage that he was known for should have been taking over. He should have been fighting widley, doing his best to take them with him.

He had a bad feeling about this...

Covton came to his side. His face raw and bloody; his uniform torn. Nevertheless, he stood tall by the side of his commander. His presence certainly inspired confidence in Covton and he was able to put aside the nagging worries that chewed at his mind.

Truth be told, Covton found himself impressed by Mercer. Just a little. Blackwatch training was tough and you were taught to respect power as well as endurance and determination. It was clear to him that Mercer had all of these things. Back to the wall and partially frozen, he nevertheless ahd enough fight left in him to attempt to resist. How many others would have surrendered by this point? Or just lay down and died? But not Mercer, he was intent on playing it out to the bitter end.

No wonder that he had been able to evade them for so long, no wonder he had become such a legend amongst their ranks! But all that was over now, Alex Mercer's time was done. And it was he, Commander Covton, who had struck the final blow. Soon it would all be over.

Then it was on to glory.

Mercer seemed to be losing momentum as he pressed himself further into the wall as though trying to meld into it. That still didn't make sense, why was he doing that? What could he hope to achieve? With his back against the dented wall, Mercer seemed to fold into himself. Crossing his arms and hunching over. Warning bells went off in Covton's head, but he couldn't put his finger on just what was happening. Nevertheless...

"Stop him!" He shouted to the soldiers. More rounds slammed into the human-shaped monster. Ice crystals formed between his arms and fingers. Anything else would be so much frozen meat by now but Mercer was different. Even though the cryo rounds had a more powerful effect than anything else they could have tried, they still lacked the punch to do anything but gradual harm.

Abruptly, Marcus grabbed his shoulder. Covton turned to ask what the problem was but he saw it all in the D-Code's eyes. Of course, _that _was why he was backing away, that was why he had hunched over, He wasn't beaten at all, far from it. Covton's mind flashed back to all the briefings on Mercer, to everything that he had learned when he had joined and later. To all that he knew of the viral abominaton.

And it all pointed to one sic kingly obvious fact. And he had _missed _it.

"Get down!" Marcus snapped to the soldiers. " Get down you fools!"

It was too late.

There was a single motion from Mercer and he almost seemed to explode. Churning biomass ripped from his form and shaped itself into dozens of black spears. Brittle from the frost, many snapped and broke before they could do anything but more came. He was pouring his all into this, Covton realized with a sinking feeling in his chest. The spikes speared forwards before anyone could react. A wave of chitinous death. The man beside him was impaled through the face, two other soldiers died when their chests were penetrated.

Three whole spears were reserved for him. They came rapidly as the others; Covton was stunned by the speed of the assault and couldn't move in time. His body felt frozen, as though it were he and not his foe who had been bombarded by cryo rounds. He was going to die, he knew that now as the spears seemed to approach so slowly. His body was locked, the world around him slowed to a crawl. Death oncoming and he _couldn't move. _ He was a fool. A fool to think he could tackle Mercer on his own, a fool to think that he had no other choice but to accept such a dangerous mission. A fool to lock out the rest of Blackwatch from the loop Now that he was dead, Mercer would escape and the rest of Blackwatch would be none the wiser. He had cost them their chance to destroy their most hated enemy.

He was a failure. No matter what he did or how much he tried to rise above it, every time he came close to finally proving himself wrong, something happened to prove him right. Covton was going to die and he was going to die a failure.

A strong hand gripped his shoulder and before Covton could even recognise him, Marcus had turned and flung the commander to the far end of the room. He landed in a painful heap but it was better than death. But Marcus had left no time to escape himself and so, the three spikes that had been destined for the commander buried themselves in his flesh. Agonized, he was reduced to a limp form on the ground. Blood pooling under him.

He was one of the lucky ones. The others were torn to shreds; their bodies lacking the internal reinforcements of the D-Code's many surgeries. And lacking his super-human speed, they didn't even see death coming. Their remains were strewn across the room, a whole squid wiped out in the blinking of an eye.

Blinking back tears of rage and pain, Covton tried to rise. His whole body was shaking. He was in shock, he realized in a distant sort of way. With all the times that he had put himself into danger, all the times that he had played the risks, this was the first time he had looked death so surely in the face and _known_ that it was the end for him. Without Covton, it would have been.

Mercer's shape returned to his human form now. He was reduced, even Covton could see that. He must have burned a lot of biomass to use that attack and his body seemed to be the worse for it. His skin was pale and chipped, almost frozen solid from the results of their attack. He couldn't shape-shift but that was scant comfort for Covton. Because even without his blades, Mercer could tear him apart with his bare hands.

Covton fumbled for his gun; his hands were numb and he couldn't seem to make them work right. It took several agonizing seconds for him to draw and by then, Mercer was already striding towards him. This time, he didn't walk like a predator. That supreme confidence was gone. Instead, he walked like what he was. A dangerous man who had been driven to the very edge of his endurance.

"I am going to rip you to shreds, Covton." Mercer announced. His walk was slow and painful, but purposeful. Covton's hands shook as he tried to aim the gun, but he couldn't seem to make himself pull the trigger. His hand wasn't responding at all. Mercer was coming to kill him and he couldn't even make his own hand move to defend himself! He had wanted to destroy the abomination, but he had only ended up enraging it.

_What have I done?_He wondered.

Covton fumbled with his gun, years of experience seeming to melt away before the terrifying spectre of Alex Mercer. He'd never faced anything like this, he realised. With all his little plans, he'd never expected anything like this. What had he walked into? With that stupid little smile on his face? His own words to Marcus drifted back into his ears.

''Of course it will work. My plans always work.''

And now he was going to die because his plan hadn't worked.

It almost didn't seem fair. But then, if there was one thing being a member of Blackwatch taught regardless of rank. It was that life wasn't fair.

"I'm afraid..." Croaked a voice from the ground. "We h-have a no...ripping policy."

Covton's heart leapt. Marcus! How had he survived? That final blow should have ended even a D-Code. But somehow the other man was managing to push himself to his feet. A gaping hole in his chest, his skull undoubtedly fractured, who knew how much internal damage and yet he was still getting back up?

Admiration welled up in his chest and not for the first time, Covton was glad that he worked so closely with Marcus.

His armour was practically dyed red in his own blood. His left eye was a bleeding mess; his chest had been cored by one of the spikes and his right arm hung limply by a mere handful of flesh and muscle.

"You're still alive?" Mercer said in surprise.

"Reports of my death, etc, etc, greatly exaggerated.." Marcus managed a blood-stained grin. " Oh, you may have hurt me a bit, but its not as bad as it looks. Any second now, my D-Code Healing Factor will jump into action and I'll be back to full health. You thought you were the only one who could process biomass?"

The D-Code stood upright now, what could be seen of his skin was discoloured, blood loss surely made it hard to stay in one place but Marcus seemed quite ready to throw down with Mercer again. Covton knew that Marcus had to be nearing the point where he couldn't stand let alone fight... but did Mercer know that? How much did Mercer know about modern D-Codes? How much was he willing to risk finding out?

Mercer, apparently, was not willing to risk much. He cast one look at Covton and said.

"I'll be back for you later."

Then, he was off. Running as fast as he could through the door. There were shouts from beyond as the few soldiers Covton still had left reacted but there wasn't enough of them to stop him. Maybe if they were all in one place and the D-Codes were there too, but not like this.

Mercer would escape.

"Is he gone?" Marcus asked, his voice was ragged with pain and exhaustion. " I would check myself but I seem to have caught a touch of blindness. Also, I'm fairly certain that my lungs and heart traded places. And my spleen may have left the building..."

"He's gone." Covton confirmed, finally regaining enough control to speak.

"Ah. Good."

With a thump, Marcus was on the ground again.

"Shit." Covton swore, rushing over to the super soldier. His medical training came rushing back, but not all of it was applicable to a D-Code, in fact most of it was useless. Covton did what he could. Thoughts of Mercer were excluded from his mind as for once, the Blackwatch soldier tried to save a life rather than take it.

"Sir!"

Covton turned from his grisly work. One of the few troopers he had held in reserve was now standing at the door. His armour was scarred from a near hit by Mercer but he seemed to be alive so that was better than most who had thrown down with the monster,

"Sir, Zeus has left the building but we have drones tracking him now, he can't get far! We'll have him!"

Covton could imagine the glee on the soldier's face, it seemed so hard to remember now just how that glee had felt.

"No."

"Sir?"

"I said no! Send the D-Codes instead, and get all the survivors together. We're leaving as soon as he is confirmed death. I don't want us here any moment longer than we need to be."

"You don't want him captured?"

"No." Covton's hand shook a bit as he recalled how close he had come to death such a short time ago. "No, I want him _burned. _I want to make sure that he can never threaten us again. Forget capture, forget limiting our firepower. If I had a proper ship I'd blow this entire station just to make sure he doesn't get away. Since we can't do that, I'm ordering full authorization to the D-Codes. Full authority to act as they like, no holds no limits. I want them to shred him as well as anyone who gets in their way."

"Sir, what if he retreats into one of the more public areas, people could get hurt."

"That doesn't matter now. Full authority, soldier. I want them armed with their pick of what we have. And make damn sure they know that they aren't to come back until he is confirmed dead!"

"Sir!"

The soldier turned to leave.

"And get a medic in here!" Covton snarled "If we even have one left..."

Every movement brought a searing flash of pain as Alex Mercer half ran half limped from the Blackwatch base. Pain filled his body and confusion did the same his mind. His body was threatening him with total failure now, he knew he shouldn't have put that much effort into his devastator attack but it was the only way to overcome the freezing effect. He had had to burn up the vast majority of his biomass just to make it work, and now he was suffering he consequences. Every second was one second closer to the his body just shutting down to regenerate and he knew that he couldn't allow that. Blackwatch would be hunting him now, despite their losses. Maybe if he had managed to kill the commander they would have fallen back...

Damn that D-Code! How could he have possibly managed to get up after that? A spike to the chest wasn't the kind of thing anyone just walked off! Alex was ninety percent certain that the whole ''D-Code Healing Factor'' was bullshit but he couldn't risk the chance that it wasn't. If he had to face a full strength D-Code in this shape, things could get quite bad. So he had fled.

Well, at least he'd been able to get that squad of soldiers. That was less Blackwatch troopers for him to deal with later. Right now, he needed to find somewhere where he could hide out for a while and sleep. It wasn't really sleep, of course. More like a stasis during which his body was able to kick its regenerative properties into overdrive. He'd used it once before, a long time ago, just after he awoke for the first time... then, he had made his escape from the Blackwatch compound and fallen asleep close by. He'd ended up being shot in the face, but that had hardly bothered him.

He would have chuckled at the irony of finding himself replaying the situation, if it didn't hurt so much. He needed to get as much distance between the base and himself as possible, and then... then he could rest for a while until he stabilised. After that, he'd need new biomass. Covton looked like a real tempting target. And after that, he'd personally hunt down every Blackwatch trooper on Omega, and everyone who knew about them.

But that was for later. Ducking into an ally way between two old looking buildings of green-tainted metal, he slid into a sitting position with his back against the wall. The world was tinged with darkness. He had to rest soon or else he might damage his body even more. He ought to be far enough away and if his luck held out, some vermin would think he was a fresh corpse. Rats didn't provide much biomass... but every little bit helped. And he was sure that Blackwatch would be looking for him.

He wasn't safe here, but he wasn't really safe anywhere in the slums. This place would do well enough for a while and he doubted he'd be able to make it much further in any case.

Alex Mercer closed his eyes and slid into what passed for a restless slumber. The world around him faded away - save at that instinctive level. On that level, he paid attention to everything. Danger was everywhere and even in his exhausted state, he wasn't going to be left blind.

His body began to heal at an accelerated rate, first the sheen of frost began to die away as his biomass started to shift more freely again. But lacking in raw resources, his body was forced to carefully watch its supply of Biomass. He wasn't able to heal fully, so what little he could do was directed towards vital components. His outer armour; his legs and arms. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

The loud music which blurred over the neon-coloured room was enough to upset even the usually calm Shepard as he made his way towards the one who ran this place. Aria. The Asari was sitting at her raised podium, watching the whole club as though it were her own little kingdom. Of course, for all intents and purposes it was. She saw him coming of course, and motioned to her bodyguards to let him through. That was fine by Shepard since he was planning to go past them even if they didn't want him to.

"Shepard." She nodded to him and gestured to the sofa to the side. But this time, he was in no mood to play her games.

"Aria." He said, not taking the seat. Two of her batarian guards made as though to force him down, but backed off at a gesture from her. Shepard didn't even bother with them, if they tried to stop him, he would act but otherwise, they were just a distraction.

"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?" She asked, "Recruiting again? I hear Archangel mysteriously vanished. The gangs are calling it a victory, but I suspect you had more to do with it than any of them."

"Not exactly." Shepard said. " I've come for information. Specifically, information on Blackwatch."

"Ah, Blackwatch." She said with a frown. "One of Omega's newest problems."

"They must be pretty bad to cause problems for Omega."

"Oh they are." She said, "They've set up in the slums area and forced the Blue Suns out."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "They did what? I thought the Suns were well-entrenched there. It'd take an army to move them."

"That's what we thought as well." Aria said, "But Blackwatch has done it with - at last count - fifteen men. Fifteen men, and three monsters."

"Monsters?"

"Reports are...garbled. But from what we've been able to tell, they look like humans but have the strength of Krogan." A faint tone of amusement entered her voice, "They move as fast as lightning, heal from any wound. And everything the Blue Suns have just bounces off them."

"So, what's really doing it?"

"I don't know." The answer was unusual enough for Aria, who usually knew everything about Omega. " From my sources, they look like humans and they seem to be augmented genetically. We've not got into a fight with any of them to check the rest of the rumours. Do be sure to tell me if they're true."

"And what makes you think that I would know?"

"Because you're going into the slums, aren't you Shepard? You've come to me twice now. Once for information on Doctor Mordin and the second for the same on Archangel. Both times, you ended up right in the thick of the fighting. I doubt this will be any different."

"Maybe." Shepard said, " But you don't know that for sure."

"I know more than you seem to think, Shepard. I also know of the strange man who was last seen heading into the slums. Name of...Mercer, I believe. Very curious. I don't suppose you can tell me just what he is?"

"And what makes you think he's not human?"

"I've never seen a human change their shape to look like a Blackwatch soldier he has just killed. Mercer was being trailed by a local group of thugs, he didn't bother with them. I can see why. Afterwards, we extracted the information from them."

"And he was going to the slums?"

"Towards the Blackwatch base. As I said, Shepard, do be sure to tell me if the rumours are true."

Having taken his leave of the lounge, Shepard worked with his Omnitool for a moment. There was a soft click and it had opened a link to the rest of the team.

"This is Shepard. I have a trail. Aria says he was last seen headed towards the Slums. There is a possible Blackwatch base there too. I'm going to check it out."

"Negative." Mordin's voice came back, " Too dangerous. Unknown number of hostiles. Wait a few minutes and we'll all go. Better chance that way."

"Thanks for the worry, Doctor but I have it in hand. I don't want to fight Blackwatch, I just need to sneak in and find out what happened to Mercer."

"Shepard." Garrus said, " As much as doing stupid and heroic quests is your ''thing'' this time I suggest you listen to Mordin. The Blue Suns are fierce, if Blackwatch is there too..."

"I'll handle it." Shepard said. "I'm not that far from the entrance to the slums, I can be in and out in a few hours. I want the rest of you to gather on the Normandy. Depending on what I find, we may need to storm the Blackwatch base."

"Never a dull day. Eh, Shepard?" Garrus said.

"Oh you know me." Shepard answered, " If there isn't a fight available I just have to go and find one.

Garrus chuckled, "Never change, Shepard."

"Same to you, Shepard out."

Lowering his arm, the commander made his way towards the slums. He had prepared for heavy fighting before he left so there wasn't going to be a problem in that regard. Still, Aria's words rang in his ears.

Augmented humans? Mercer had spoken of them, ''D-Codes'' he had said. Created with a variant of the virus that he had worked on. Shepard had hoped he wouldn't have to encounter them - and still did - but if the worst came to the worst...

Well Mercer was in there. And like him or not, Mercer was a member of his crew.

And Shepard never abandoned his crew when they needed help.

The world slowly came into focus around him. His body presented him with a laundry lists of complaints and problems, but hidden amongst them was good news as well. He felt more agile and mobile; the effects of the cryo rounds hadn't vanished completely but they were fading fast. Now at least, he felt like he could put up a fight.

"This one looks bad..." There came voice. For a second, he thought Blackwatch had found him but then logic reasserted itself. No, that voice was too young to be a soldier. And she didn't sound worried or angry. There was also the fact that no one had shot him in the head yet. A clear improvement on last time.

He cracked open his eyes and blinked a few times until the world was in focus. The girl was standing in front of him, she looked young. Sixteen maybe. She was dressed in rags that may once have been clothing and her wary expression spoke a lot of exactly where she came from.

"You're awake?" She said faintly surprised, " I guess you weren't hurt so badly after all. Here, let me help you up."

"No." Mercer said. "I can stand."

He stood up; unfolding slowly so as to test out every muscle. He still felt a bit numb, but as he had noted everything else seemed to check out for the most part. Judging by the state of his body, he would be able to produce knives and blades again but he couldn't yet speak for more complex things like whipfist. And he suspected he wouldn't be able to take someone else's shape yet ether.

Not as good as he would have hoped, but it was better than nothing.

"Are you sure you're OK?" The girl asked. Mercer had half-turned so she didn't see what he was doing.

"I'm fine." He said, shifting to face her. For the first time, he got a good look at her face and he nearly froze up._ Dana? _Was the first thought that came into his head as he looked at her. Was it really her? Some part of him wanted it to be her so much. His sister... the one person he had ever felt really close to after his transformation. But that was impossible, she was long dead. He had seen it himself. He had _done _it himself.

No, it wasn't her. But the girl did look like her. Like a younger Dana. Seemed the fates didn't feel like his being frozen and then nearly passing out was quite enough torment for one day.

"Are you OK?" She asked for the third time, "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"No." He said, managing to speak again with effort. " You just look like someone I used to know. What're you doing here?"

"I live here." She said, "You look pretty beaten up, what happened? You don't seem to belong to any of the local gangs."

"I had a disagreement with Blackwatch." Mercer said, surprised to find himself even mentioning them to this strange girl.

"Blackwatch? You mean the new guys? You're lucky then. I think you're the first one who's gotten out alive."

"I have experience with that." Mercer muttered to himself. " I look bad now but I need to rest for a while. I'll be fine then."

That was true; with more rest he suspected he could push back the effects of the Cryo Rounds even further perhaps even eliminate them. Then, he'd be able to hunt for more biomass and after that, he could return and deal with the remaining soldiers.

"Sure." She said sceptically, "I've heard that one before. You got beaten up badly by the looks of it, I doubt you can even walk straight. There's a clinic not far from here, you can get help there."

"No." Mercer shook his head. " That's the exact opposite of what I need. Just get going and leave me here. I'll be fine in a few hours. And you really don't want to be around when Blackwatch catches up with me."

"Bit late for that, Zeus." Came a voice from the other side of the alleyway.

"Oh for Christ sake." Mercer swore to himself. Outlined against the entrance to the allyway, a D-Code was drawing his weapon. Some kind of modified shotgun by the looks of it, Mercer wasn't eager to test it out. It wasn't the same D-Code as he'd fought earlier, Mercer noted. But it looked just as fierce. This one was wearing a more traditional D-Code outfit. A dark uniform clearly reinforced to take a beating. A harness was slung across its chest which held several guns and far too much ammunition to count.

Mercer's eyes met those of the D-Code. Each knew what the other was thinking. Alex needed to escape; he didn't want to fight a D-Code right now.

With one swift move, the super-soldier drew his gun and fired. It barked an explosive round. The girl flinched aside, but Mercer was already moving. He interposed himself between her and the shooter just as the shot flared. Though aimed at him, he knew she would have been caught in the blast. He grunted as the hit landed, but it wasn't cryo so he considered on balance, that he was in luck.

He snapped around and charged at the foe. His fist smashed into the blank helmet of the D-Code, but the super soldier rolled with it, gripping Mercer's arm and smashing him into the far wall.

"I thought you were supposed to be faster than that, ZEUS." He said, " I guess I heard wrong, huh?"

Mercer answered with his fist; launching a punch packed with muscle-power into the other's chest. The D-Code doubled over and Alex tried to press the attack but the D-Code was faster and managed to recover. He blocked Alex's follow-up and sent him smashing into the far wall again. In an instant, his gun was raised and he launched another explosive round. Alex grunted as it hit him, ripping ragged holes in his skin. But they quickly sealed.

Mercer lunged forwards again, but the D-Code was impossibly fast, smashing the butt of the shotgun into the back of his head. Mercer rolled when he hit the ground, raising to his feet quickly.

_What's happening_? Mercer thought to himself, fending off a series of strikes to the face and gut. _I should be faster than this. I had no trouble earlier with the other D-Code...unless... the cryo rounds did more damage than I thought. Damn it, I need to get out of here...but  
><em>  
>He cast glance at the girl, so much like his late sister that it was almost painful. Alex Mercer was not, by nature, a moral creature. The original Mercer had been downright villainous and even the Blacklight construct could hardly be called heroic at the best of times. And yet... and yet he didn't want to leave that girl. The D-Code was after him, so the chances were it would leave her alone but at the end of the day, it was Blackwatch. There was a fair chance it would kill her just for being near him.<p>

Alex Mercer had killed many people in his life, thinking back on it not all of them had deserved it. Innocent people had died at his hands, people just trying to do their jobs...

But he wasn't about to add to that number.

With a sudden barrage of light jabs, he forced the D-Code back a step. It wasn't much, but it was enough. He slammed a kick into the helmet, hearing a definite crack! Then, quickly while the super soldier was reeling, he turned and grabbed the girl.

"Hold on." He hissed as he turned and started to run the opposite way.

"That's a dead end!" She cried, tears of terror were leaking from her eyes and she was shaking badly.

"I know."

"You're not going to make it!"

"Watch me."

The dead end loomed up ahead, and the ground behind filled up with the sound of weapons fire. Mercer knew he was walking a fine line now, but something in him just wouldn't let him leave the girl to die.

He reached the wall with the D-Code on his trail, he didn't pause in his running. The girl shut her eyes and moaned in terror, but there was a brief moment of weightlessness and their centre of gravity changed.

They were running up the wall.

A patch behind them exploded into melted metal, but with a single push Mercer catapulted them over the edge and onto the next building. He didn't pause in his running for a good five or ten minutes. When he was sure that they were far enough away from the threat, he slipped back onto the street below.

"There." He said, putting the girl on the ground. "Now you can be on your way. Fast. I don't think I shook him off for long."

"What was he?" The girl said, her voice trembling.

"D-Code." Mercer snapped. " Better if you don't know any more. Frankly, you're in deep enough as it is."

"He threw you into that wall... are you all right?"

"I'm fine. I should have been able to take him but... I'm not doing too well at the minute."

"What do you need?" She asked, a sudden weight coming into her voice.

Mercer smirked, amused despite himself.

"I don't need anything. I'm fine on my own. I'll just rest for a while. Then I'll finish him and the other one."

"There's two?"

"There was three." Mercer said, with obvious satisfaction. "Now there's two. Soon, there'll be none."

"And you're going to sleep here?"

"Well not out in the street no. I'll find an alley or something. Its safer that way, and in an few hours I'll be back to full strength."

"Its still dangerous to rest out here." She said. She was putting on a brave face, but to a being like Mercer her fear was easy to see. Her body language spoke volumes, her heart was hammering away in her chest. And yet, here she was.

Curious.

"I know a place where you can rest." She said.

The two super soldiers met in the allyway where the fight had taken place. The first was the one who had fought Mercer earlier. Having recovered his breath, he waited in the near-darkness for his comrade to arrive. When he arrived, the second was a real sight. Bands of ammo he wore like belts, he had not one but three weapons stashed about his person, as well as high powered grenades and demo charges. The first gun was a shotgun built originally for a Krogan. The kickback was enough to break the arm of a grown man.

He wielded it with one hand.

The second was a pistol, loaded with high-temp inferno rounds. The operating theory being that Mercer might be susceptible to high temperatures as he was with low. Just in case that didn't work out, the final weapons was a sub-machine gun of the type employed by successful mercs. Capable of filling the air with death in seconds. It was loaded to the brim with cryo rounds.

"Zues was here." Said the second. It was not a question.

The first nodded, " Yes. I engaged him only about fifteen minutes back. He had a civie too."

"Probably consumed her." Said the second.

"I don't think so." Said the first, "He saved her life at least twice during the fight. I think she means something to him."

"And how'd he get away?"

"Ran up that wall and made a jump for the next roof."

The second regarded the indicated direction.

"Why didn't you follow?"

"There was no need."

"Explain."

"Zeus is hurt bad. I think the cryo rounds must have done something on the cellular level. You know, back when they first tried suspended animation it used to fuck up its targets real bad? Something like that, I guess. When we fought, he couldn't shape-shift it all, and he tried several times. At the end, he took the girl and ran."

"So?"

"So he's gonna wanna settle down for a while and regenerate. He'll want to have his powers back before he faces us."

"Ah." Said the second, " So he goes to sleep. Or at least, he's not on his guard. We jump him and kill him easy."

"Right."

"And the girl?"

"She's been exposed. Kill her too."

Without another word, the two super soldiers walked out of the ally. Inside their suits, a read-out appeared. Highlighting a the faint strands of the virus known as Blacklight that still hung in the air.

The second smirked behind his visor. The trace was faint, but they could still follow it.

Mercer was as good as dead.

AND review replies!

**Kane 5/27/12 . chapter 4 **

**Good chapter and Blackwatch strikes back(hmm now why did that remind me of "The Empire Strikes back" from Star Wars?). Liked the fight scenes and the infiltration stuff Alex pulled, though shouldnt have Mercer realised that Blackwaqtch would have developed something in the last one and a half century that could at least slow him down a bit? I mean these guys do have good back up plans(though most of the time would involve many civilian deaths) when it comes down to capturing and terminating important targets, granted they semed to always have underestimated Zeus but they should have learned from those, mistakes,No?Also you mentioned that Blacklight had taken down an Collector assault on Horizon, yes? Well he must have at least consumed a few Collectors, so what I want ask is will he use their genetic material to improve his abilities(for starters it would be interesting to see him use long range weaponry, or at least improve the range of some of his area attacks like the Devastator and its variants or the whipfist heck he could even attempt to use some of the genetic information to improve his armor and close range attack weapons or even create a shield(though you should introduce that feature latter in the story since at this stage, most attacks will just be more or less ignored by him(well except for the stuff that can actually stop/slow him down).**

Well hope that helps you somewhat with your story.

Alex has been out of the fight for a while and he kind of sees this the same way he used to infiltrate Blackwatch bases back in Manhattan. He did suspect that Blackwatch had some new toys, but didn't expect them to be particularly effective against himself. As to the Collector thing. Yeah, he consumed a few but their memories aren't stored the same way as human ones and he is still trying to unpack them and get them to make sense. Same with their genetic information.

XKhaosXKyuubiX**5/27/12 . chapter 4**

**Talos the Saiyan,**

Well... Alex is gonna be pissed when he wakes up. Let's see these blackwatch guys learn why he was called 'THe Monster of Manhattan'. Shall we?

Indeed, I think we can say with this chapter that Covton has indeed learned just how he got that name. Of course, this is only the start for the poor, poor Blackwatch commander.

Lord Sigfry**5/27/12 . chapter 4**

**Lol...as if shepard stands a chance.**

Against Mercer? Yeah, he is pretty out-classed. But as Mercer himself pointed out, Shepard has a habit of going against all the odds and _winning anyway. _ Its probably why Mercer even bothered to work with him at all.

DarkGidora**5/27/12 . chapter 4**

**Hm... I had a feeling you would not be happy with P2. I recall you mentioning a voodoo curse or something. :P**

Nice to reread the chapter. Marcus is such a giant troll, and I liked Covton's plan and the interactions between Alex and Shepard. This is just a minor nitpick, but it'd be clearer if you inserted lines or some other type of symbol between scenes, just to make things a bit easier to follow.

This is the fault of FFnet; I have lines between the scenes in my version but they seem to get wiped when I upload them. I'll see what I can do to fix it.

Kingdark**5/27/12 . chapter 2**

**I'm not going to snitch but answering reviews in any chapter is against the rules. If you want to answer review then you should do it via a private message. Overall, this is a very interesting idea so far. You do realize that no matter what, Alex at the end of the game is like a GOD compared to other humans? He can throw tanks and jump from the highest building in the game without a scratch! Consuming an asari or two gives him biotics and a LOT of knowledge.**

I am aware of this fact, yes. I also know that FFnet can be rather lax in enforcing this rule and I believe that answering the reviews in the story gives a better feeling of community and generally makes it more fun to read (and write)

As to Alex's power, while I wouldn't call him a god, it is true that he is pretty much superior to anyone else on the ground. Fortunately, technology can offset that by a bit and he can still be hurt (or even killed) if he takes his own power lightly or underestimates those

**With ME3 out for months now this could be totally awesome!**

ME3 probably won't factor into this much. I started the story before it came out and I can't say I really approve of the direction it took.

Sairresh**5/27/12 . chapter 4**

**can't wait to see shepard come to the rescure or alex go all supper abosrb from one missed speck, i get money on shepard tho**

Yeah, like I said above Shepard has a habit of beating the odds even when everything else says he really shouldn't be able to pull it off.

**good job 5/28/12 . chapter 4 **

**awesome work with the cryo rounds idea it makes sense**

It does indeed, I believe I may have actually got the idea from someone else back on Spacebattlesdotcome in the early snippets. They mentioned how different ammo types could effect him and I ran with it.

**Mimi MC****6/1/12 . chapter 4**

**Mercer's in trouble! I love how smoothly you merged the two universes and this is an amazing story! Thanks for sharing and I hope to see the next chapter soon!**

Well it may not have counted as soon, but at least its here now.

**Drexal15****6/5/12 . chapter 4**

**I have not found any good prototype stories except for this one**

There are a few other good stories. Try anything by Laluzi. She has been writing for Prototype longer than me and honestly is a bit better. If you like what I've done you'll probably enjoy her work too.

**Ecomadness 6/17/12 . chapter 4**

**Awesome story I love protype stories their awesome can't wait for an update hope its soon.**

Eh heh... I don't suppose I could convince you that ''soon'' means something different in Talos language?

**BlazaWolf****8/5/12 . chapter 4**

**Sherpard and crew need to show their collective asses up and save all the "showing up just in the nick of time" crap for the dramas**

They're working on that now.

**roboticman****8/7/12 . chapter 4**

**need update**

Update complete.

**Guest 8/19/12 . chapter 4 **

**It always seems odd to me when authors have Alex fight like some sort of mutant human, and unfortunately my explanation why is likely to be rambling and somewhat incoherent, so. Sorry in advance.**

Eh, its cool. Its not like I haven't put thought into that kind of thing myself.

Anyway, I understand that in the game itself, you're somewhat restricted by the need for challenging gameplay in what you can and cannot do as Mercer. However, from a perspective not rooted in the gameplay, it doesn't make sense for Alex to continue fighting like a human after he realizes he isn't one, or more specifically, after he's hit by the nuclear bomb. After all, he regenerated himself from a smear on the ground. He didn't consume that crow by beating the shit out of it first; his cells invaded it, took control of it's cells, and incorporated them into his collective "biomass" or what have you. At least, I think that's how a virus works. Anyway, this would mean that, even as a much smaller collection of cells than usual (thanks to the nuke) Mercer has conscious control of each individual cell.

**(Though probably not consciousness as we think of it, 'cause really, how does a being with what seems to be a decentralized nervous system think, anyway. Or maybe it is centralized, but he can, for lack of any better words, shift it from one group of cells to another? Or maybe there's some weird combination of centralized and decentralized nervous system in him? I dunno, I don't study neurology or biology or virology, and most of my thoughts on this are pieced together from snippets of speech of people far smarter than I.)**

Well, the way I would see it is thus. Even if Alex isn't human he was created from a human, the original Alex Mercer. His mindset was originally human and his memories are all of a human. So even if his body is capable of performing much more efficiently in a different shape, he is always going to default to human because that is what he seems himself as.

Err, back to Mercer fighting. I think that, rather than beating on something until it's weak enough to consume, as you do in the game, Alex could simply let Marcus punch him, shift his cells so that he clings to the guy's arm as some kind of sludge and seeps in through his skin, and take over his cells from the inside. It really makes no sense for him to shift his arms into bunches of different weapons and make the guy bleed first, unless he needs an open wound to get into the bloodstream and travel around the guy's body. Or, if you want it to be similar to the game, just have his tentacles whip out, stab the guy (because how the hell would a human have any hope of blocking a prehensile tentacle that Alex has full cellular control of anyway), and then get into his body that way. No need for some strange punch up before hand either way. You'd think having to recover from being a smear on the ground would have taught Alex he didn't have to fight like some weirdly enhanced human.

Basically, humans cells have to work as a cohesive whole. Mercer, as a virus, doesn't have that restriction, especially when he can rewrite which parts of his genetic code are active in any cell at any time. All he has to do is have any part of him brush against an open wound and send some cells into the other person's body, completely independent of the main collection of cells (Mercer's body), and wait for it to convert all of the other persons cells, "consuming" them, before reuniting with the cells he sent out.

Did I manage to make sense?

Yeah, you did. You made some good points too. But I'd counter by going with my ''he thinks like a human theory'' while he knows on some level that he could do that to a normal human, for the most part it doesn't occur to him in combat or he regards it as taking too much concentration. Likewise, if he were to try it against a D-Code he doesn't know if it would work. Remember, D-Codes were born from a similar origin as him even if their powers are less versatile. It is highly likely that they would have some natural defence against that kind of thing.

However, I see that working on a human pretty easily.


End file.
